The 13th Congressional District election in New York has evolved into a highly contentious battle between Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a five-term incumbent, and Darializa Avila Chevalier, an organizer with Democratic Socialist backing. <\/p>\n
As the June primary approaches, both campaigns came out swinging and slinging accusations in their first head-to-head public radio forum last week. <\/p>\n
Democrats hoping to at least shift the balance of power away<\/a> from a Republican-controlled Senate and House put a lot of eyes on New York\u2019s upcoming primary election. The right-wing effort to redistrict Black and Brown communities <\/a>out of their voting power after the Supreme Court\u2019s decision on the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has also heightened the political climate.<\/p>\n \u201cI defend immigrants because I am an immigrant,\u201d said Espaillat on WNYC\u2019s Brian Lehrer Show<\/a> on June 4. \u201cIt was in my house that they came knocking looking for my sister. It was me that had to go back to the Dominican Republic to get my green card. Had I not gotten my green card, I would have been stuck over there. I know firsthand what it is to be undocumented, to be afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n Espaillat, 71, is the first Dominican American and formerly undocumented immigrant to serve in Congress. His re-election bid was just endorsed by congressional colleagues<\/a> such as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the nation\u2019s first Black house speaker. He considers himself \u201ca progressive who brings results\u201d and supports humanitarian aid to Gaza.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Avila Chevalier, 32, grew up in Florida to Dominican parents and has been a community organizer in East Harlem<\/a> since she was a teenager. She takes a firm stance in supporting Palestine and its citizens. Her campaign is backed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and Justice Democrats, and just got a huge boost from the endorsement of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the city\u2019s first Muslim and South Asian mayor. <\/p>\n Espaillat initially endorsed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo when Mamdani was running against him for mayor, but was among the first entrenched Democrats to publicly switch to backing Mamdani after he won the 2025 primary. Avila Chevalier helped Mamdani with canvassing and was a part of his mayoral campaign team.<\/p>\n The differences between the two candidates were stark in the forum, especially when it came to congressional funding, campaign contributions, and combatting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). <\/p>\n Espaillat accused Avila Chevalier of \u201clying\u201d about accepting Texas-based dark money <\/a>donations for her campaign, although she maintained that she doesn\u2019t take corporate political action committee (PAC) money and said he was \u201cblatantly\u201d lying as well. According to a recent New York Times story, a \u201csuper PAC created as a counterweight to powerful pro-Israel advocacy groups\u201d has pledged to spend $2 million in New York to support progressive candidates<\/a>, including Avila Chevalier. <\/p>\n \u201cMy record stands on its own,\u201d said Espaillat. \u201cI have accomplished many things, including the expansion of the Second Avenue Subway for East Harlem and Harlem. The Kingsbridge Armory stood idle there, forgotten, broken promises for people in the Bronx. We were able to get millions of dollars to make that the potential of the economic engine for the northwest Bronx. She has no record. Her record [is] her tweets.\u201d<\/p>\n Several outlets reported Avila Chevalier\u2019s move to delete a previous Twitter account <\/a>that included thousands of posts and reposts expressing support for abolishing police, prisons, and borders; disparaging former Vice President Kamala Harris; and questioning Israel\u2019s right to exist. Espaillat launched an attack ad<\/a> highlighting some of the deleted posts. <\/p>\n Avila Chevalier slammed Espaillat\u2019s choices to vote through broad congressional spending bills that have included ICE funding in the past and not support the Block the Bombs Act (H.R. 3565)<\/a>, which bans the president from selling defenses or services to Israel, or Melt ICE Act (H.R.7190)<\/a>, which ends Department of Homeland Security\u2019s (DHS) funding to detain or monitor immigrants. She also called out Espaillat\u2019s campaign donations <\/a>from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). <\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that we have a sitting member of Congress who is repeatedly lying about a constituent of his, which is what I am \u2014 a constituent of his whom he\u2019s refused to meet with,\u201d said Avila Chevalier. \u201cThis is the first time that we\u2019ve had a substantive conversation in the over 14 years I\u2019ve been organizing in this district. I think it is reflective of the type of divisive leadership that we\u2019ve had for far too long.\u201d<\/p>\n