In New York City, the UAW is better known for representing legal workers<\/a>, museum staff<\/a> and graduate students<\/a> \u2014 a membership that is young, highly educated and skews left,<\/a> with a bent for social justice issues. Its members in the region routinely rally against ICE<\/a>, and it was the first union in the country<\/a> to call for a Gaza ceasefire in 2023.<\/p>\n Avila Chevalier, a researcher at a Harlem-based legal services nonprofit and prominent pro-Palestine organizer, on Thursday launched her bid to unseat Espaillat, whose 13th district spans Upper Manhattan and The Bronx. And Nemorin, a public defender and Bronx Community Board 1 chair, is challenging Torres, whose 15th district is in The Bronx.\u00a0<\/p>\n Espaillat has held his seat for nearly a decade with the support of the Bronx and Manhattan Democratic parties. Torres, elected in 2020, has become one of Israel\u2019s staunchest Democratic defenders in Congress \u2014 making him a target for multiple challengers this year seizing on backlash against the Gaza war.<\/p>\n UAW Region 9A, which declined to comment for this story, has not yet endorsed congressional candidates in New York. In recent years, the union has focused on boosting candidates in local and state races: it was a major backer of one of its own<\/a>, Claire Valdez, recruiting her for a successful campaign for the state Assembly last year. (Valdez, for her part, is one of many DSA-backed candidates eligible<\/a> to run for New York\u2019s 7th Congressional District after Rep. Nydia Vel\u00e1zquez announced<\/a> she would retire next year.)<\/p>\n Though Avila Chevalier is better known for her organizing efforts at the pro-Palestine Columbia University encampment and on Mamdani\u2019s mayoral campaign, she said she \u201clove[s] being a UAW member\u201d and that the experience of being a union member has helped inform her political organizing.<\/p>\n Nemorin described her union work as a formative experience. She was part of the team that in 2018 unionized Neighborhood Defender Services of Harlem, where she started her legal career three years earlier and where Avila Chevalier now works. At the Legal Aid Society, Nemorin served as a union delegate in the Criminal Appeals Bureau from 2021 to 2023 and as an alternate vice president for the Water Street unit from 2022 to 2023.<\/p>\n \u201cI do think the union world does increase the quality of workers across the board. That is the job of the union,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd UAW does that every single day, making sure that workers are seen and workers are cared for.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018His Constituent Needed Him\u2019<\/p>\n Both women are running to the left of the incumbents, calling out what they describe as their corporate ties.<\/p>\n Nemorin has also focused on the perception that Torres \u2014 the first openly gay Afro-Latino elected to Congress who rose from the City Council to Washington as a progressive figure \u2014 has veered to the right in recent years. The 15th district he represents is the poorest in the country, and the only congressional district located entirely within The Bronx. It includes Riverdale, a Jewish stronghold in the borough\u2019s northwest.<\/p>\n Torres has raised<\/a> $3.9 million in contributions since the beginning of the 2025-2026 cycle, according to Federal Election Commission data, including $729,960 from AIPAC<\/a>, the leading pro-Israel lobby group. Nemorin, who filed her campaign paperwork on Oct. 1, has not yet submitted disclosure statements.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of candidates in the race might be talking about who he\u2019s pandering to,\u201d Nemorin said, referring to Torres\u2019s relationship with AIPAC, which has directed over $2 million<\/a> in contributions to him since his first congressional run. \u201cBut there are so many people he\u2019s neglecting.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe donors who represent him make him feel like he\u2019s bulletproof.\u201d<\/p>\n Nemorin is up against three other candidates so far in the primary, including former Assemblyman Michael Blake, activist Jose Vega and public school teacher Jon LaTona.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nemorin contends that her campaign will galvanize voters who do not feel represented by Torres\u2019 track record in Washington, citing the Congressman\u2019s vote in favor<\/a> of the Laken Riley Act\u00a0\u2014 which expanded federal authority to detain and deport noncitizens \u2014 while representing a district with 36% foreign-born<\/a> population.<\/p>\n \u201cRitchie is really exploiting the fact that he represents the poorest congressional district, exploiting the fact that there\u2019s some of the lowest voter turnout, and therefore creating an agenda that serves himself and not the people,\u201d Nemorin said.<\/p>\n In response to Nemorin, Torres spokesperson Benny Stanislawski said in a statement, \u201cBronx voters trust Ritchie Torres to be their fighter in Washington because he is one of them: a lifelong Bronxite who has delivered real results for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n He added, \u201cWhether it is cracking down on the open-air drug market<\/a> in the Hub or exposing ConEd\u2019s price-gouging against the Bronx or standing up to Donald Trump during the shutdown, Ritchie has been laser-focused on the issues that matter most: affordability, safety, and democracy. That\u2019s why he\u2019s going to win in 2026 and it won\u2019t be close.\u201d<\/p>\n Though she told THE CITY that the majority of the district\u2019s constituents \u201cdo not support a genocide\u201d in Gaza, she has so far resisted addressing the Israel-Palestine conflict as head-on on the campaign trail as Avila Chevalier has in her own campaign in the neighboring 13th district.\u00a0<\/p>\n Avila Chevalier is an outspoken supporter of the Palestinian cause and was a prominent organizer long before encampments sprang up on Columbia University, which is in Espaillat\u2019s district, and across the country. She is a friend and organizing partner<\/a> of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil<\/a>, a Columbia alum who was arrested by federal agents in March in his Harlem building despite his status as a legal permanent resident and detained until a federal judge ordered his release in June.<\/p>\n In a phone interview with THE CITY, she accused Espaillat of not doing more to compel the release of Khalil, a constituent. In a video<\/a> announcing her campaign, she noted AIPAC is the congressman\u2019s top donor.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Public](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Dalourny_Nemourin.jpg\")
Public defender Dalourny Nemorin is running to unseat Bronx Congressional Democratic incumbent Ritchie Torres. Credit: Courtesy of Dalourny Nemorin for Congress<\/p>\n![\"Congressional](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/112524_cross_bronx_torres_1.jpg\")
Congressional Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx) speaks in front of the West Farms Bus Depot in opposition to a state plan to build additional roadways during the repair of five bridges on the Cross Bronx Expressway, Nov. 25, 2024. Credit: Jonathan Custodio\/THE CITY<\/p>\n
![\"Congressional](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/100225_2nd_ave_subway_funding_presser-2.jpg\")
Congressional Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) leads a press conference at the Second Avenue Subway information center against the Trump administration treating to cut funds for the project, Oct. 2, 2025. Credit: Alex Krales\/THE CITY<\/p>\n