{"id":247063,"date":"2026-05-28T23:10:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T23:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/247063\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T23:10:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T23:10:25","slug":"mamdani-may-back-progressive-challenger-to-rep-espaillat-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/247063\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani may back progressive challenger to Rep. Espaillat: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mayor Mamdani is considering endorsing Darializa Avila Chevalier<\/a> in her insurgent Democratic primary race to unseat incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat in Upper Manhattan\u2019s NY-13 district.<\/p>\n

The popular mayor is weighing jumping into the race ahead of the June 23 primary because polls show a tighter-than-expected contest<\/a> as Chevalier, a fellow Democratic Socialists of America activist, runs a strong race, several mayoral advisers confirmed to the Daily News.<\/p>\n

The New York Times was the first to report on the matter.<\/p>\n

Mamdani declined to say anything about the NY-13 primary Thursday, but did not shut the door on future congressional endorsements<\/a> as he seemed to do as recently as last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I have any endorsements, I\u2019ll be sure to share,\u201d Mamdani said as he left an unrelated press conference in Astoria.<\/p>\n

Gustavo Gordillo, co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America NYC chapter, said a potential Mamdani\u2019s endorsement of Chavalier is \u201cstill in play.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a race in a part of the city where he won by huge numbers where our ideology and agenda and style of politics is very popular,\u201d Gordillo said. \u201cIt\u2019s where we have an opportunity to grow independent working class power.\u201d<\/p>\n

An endorsement of Chevalier, 32, would also amount to a reversal of Mamdani\u2019s reported vow to back Espaillat\u2019s reelection after the five-term incumbent endorsed the future mayor in the 2025 general election<\/a>, a switch from the Democratic mayoral primary in which Espaillat supported ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.<\/p>\n

\"DarializaDarializa Chevalier. (Darializa for Congress)<\/p>\n

Mamdani went on to sweep to an overwhelming victory in NY-12<\/a>, which stretches from central Harlem and El Barrio to Washington Heights and Inwood, with a slice of the Bronx.<\/p>\n

Hizzoner may want to avoid missing a chance to boost a fellow DSA activist like Chevalier, especially if she is poised to win. But he may also not want to anger Latino supporters of the Dominican-born Espaillat.<\/p>\n

Espaillat won unwanted attention this week when a flyer supporting his reelection used a photo of a random woman<\/a> to depict Chevalier. His campaign denied responsibility for the ad.<\/p>\n

The district is one of the most heavily Democratic in the nation, meaning the winner of the primary is all but certain to win the seat in November over token Republican opposition.<\/p>\n

Some insiders say Espaillat, 71, is showing signs of complacency<\/a> after 10 years in Washington, D.C. Chevalier raised more money from donors in the first quarter of 2026.<\/p>\n

The insurgent challenger is a community activist who works for a tenants rights group and helped organize pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Espaillat is backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, an unpopular stance among progressive Democrats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Mamdani is considering endorsing Darializa Avila Chevalier in her insurgent Democratic primary race to unseat incumbent Rep.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[875,128,95434,89898,75,9,24,95435,63,94723,129,131,130,82],"class_list":["post-247063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-adriano-espaillat","tag-bronx","tag-darializa-avila-chevalier","tag-dominican","tag-manhattan","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-ny-13","tag-nyc","tag-progressive","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}