A controversial socialist who once called the United States "a f-----g disgrace" and was backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, ousted a five-term Democratic incumbent in New York's 13th Congressional District.Darializa Avila Chevalier, 32, is a community organizer who studied at Columbia University where she was known for leftist agitation and her membership in a group called Columbia University Apartheid Divest that would later post "Death to America" on its social media.She defeated Rep.
Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y.on Tuesday.Avila Chevalier, who positioned herself further to the left than powerful progressives including former Vice President Kamala Harris, has faced scrutiny for her stance on private property, police, borders and calls to nationalize large swaths of the private sector in now-deleted posts from 2018 to 2022.Congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier speaks during a Get Out the Vote rally at King's Theater in New York City on June 18, 2026.
Sen.Bernie Sanders and Mayor Zohran Mamdani campaigned alongside her and other candidates ahead of the Democratic primary and early voting.
(Michael M.Santiago/Getty Images)In a 2021 repost, Avila Chevalier said that abolishing borders, prisons and police is "possible, necessary, and the only moral way forward," and later echoed posts that said "all deportation is wrong" and, "Yes, literally abolish the border," according to one report.FROM WASSERMAN SCHULTZ TO GOLDMAN, DEMOCRATIC INCUMBENTS ARE FIGHTING FOR SURVIVAL"This country is a f-----g disgrace," she said in a post."I forgot to get napkins so I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me," she reportedly said in yet another.She reportedly called former President Joe Biden a "rapist" and "war criminal," chastised Sen.
Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., for his "liberal Zionism," and said "F--k Kamala Harris."Despite this, with Mamdani's backing and an increasingly left-leaning voter bloc in New York, Avila Chevalier secured the Democratic nominat...