A month ago, Adriano Espaillat could rest assured that he'd most likely be re-elected to represent New York's 13th Congressional District. Then in late May, Mayor Zohran Mamdani endorsed pro-Palestine organizer and NYC-DSA member Darializa Avila Chevalier's candidacy. Now, one day before early voting begins for the June 23 Democratic primary, a new poll shows that the two are essentially tied.
Since Mamdani's endorsement (which was reportedly supposed to go to Espaillat), the incumbent has run negative ads against Avila Chevalier, criticizing her old tweets (including one that referred to Joe Biden as a "rapist") and pointing to her inexperience. Avila Chevalier has countered that Espaillat has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from AIPAC, and did not lift a finger to help his constituent, Mahmoud Khalil, after being kidnapped by ICE agents for his speech. Super PACs are pouring money into the race on behalf of both candidates.
To see where people of the 13th District stand, we headed to Harlem and Washington Heights. What did they think about their five-term congressman? Did they care about Avila Chevalier's tweets? What issues do they care about the most?
In Marcus Garvey Park, we chatted with 25-year-old Emma L., who is volunteering for Avila Chevalier's campaign (they did not want to share their last name). "I was really excited to hear about another candidate coming up," Emma said. "I think a lot of people I've talked to have just been ready for a change."
Emma, who makes a living as a video editor, said that Avila Chevalier's old social media posts weren't too concerning. "The tweets were not disqualifying to me," they said. "We've all probably tweeted things that would not be, I don't know, ideal for running for public office for this age. That's how social media works."