New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has thrown his political weight behind a Democratic Socialists of America organizer who called Joe Biden a "rapist" and a "war criminal," wiped her hand on an American flag, and blasted police, choosing the challenger over a five-term incumbent congressman in one of the most provocative endorsements of the cycle.
The endorsement of Darializa Avila Chevalier, who is running against Rep. Adriano Espaillat in the June 23 Democratic primary for New York's 13th House District, drew swift pushback from the state party chairman and exposed a widening fault line between the Democratic establishment and the socialist wing that now controls City Hall.
State Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs did not mince words. The New York Post reported that Jacobs called the move a flat-out error and warned that it threatens party unity heading into the general election.
"I think it's a mistake. When you have a good incumbent, stick with him. Espaillat is an excellent congressman."
Jacobs added that he had "heard from a lot of people in the Hispanic community and in general who are upset about him going against Espaillat." The chairman framed the endorsement as a power play, saying it was "an effort by Mamdani to flex his muscles in the city."
Avila Chevalier's social media trail reads like a catalog of progressive hostility toward mainstream American institutions. In social media posts, she called Biden, then running for president, a "rapist" and "war criminal" in 2020. She labeled something "a f***ing disgrace." She railed against "liberal Zionism." And in a 2019 post, she wrote: "I forgot to get napkins so I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me," punctuated with a smiling emoji.
She has also blasted cops and establishment Democrats. This is the candidate Mamdani chose over a sitting congressman who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
National Review reported that Mamdani reversed an earlier pledge to endorse Espaillat's reelection bid, instead backing Avila Chevalier, a 32-year-old DSA organizer whose profile rose through her role in organizing protests at Columbia University against the war in Gaza.
That reversal carries its own weight. Espaillat endorsed Andrew Cuomo in the mayoral Democratic primary. After Mamdani won the nomination, Espaillat switched his support to Mamdani. The congressman backed the eventual winner, and the eventual winner repaid the loyalty by endorsing his opponent.
The 13th District endorsement is not an isolated act. Mamdani is waging a coordinated campaign to install socialist-aligned candidates across multiple New York congressional districts ahead of the June 23 primaries.
In the 7th District, covering waterfront neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens, Mamdani is supporting Assemblywoman Claire Valdez, a DSA member, for the open seat left by retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez. Velázquez herself endorsed Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso against Valdez.
In the 10th District, which covers brownstone Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan, Mamdani has given his nod to former City Comptroller Brad Lander over incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman. The pattern is consistent: in every case, Mamdani is backing the candidate further to the left, even when it means opposing incumbents or establishment-backed contenders.
Campaign consultant Evan Roth Smith framed the strategy in blunt terms, telling the Post:
"In New York City, it's a civil war in the Democratic Party. The 13th District is an early experiment on how far Mamdani's popularity goes."
Roth Smith described the effort as a long-term project. "He's going to be mayor for four years and maybe eight. They believe in the long game," he said, adding that Mamdani wants more representatives in Albany and Congress who are on "his team."
The endorsement also carries a foreign-policy edge. The Washington Examiner reported that Avila Chevalier has highlighted Espaillat's backing from AIPAC and touted her own involvement in Columbia University's pro-Palestinian encampment. Espaillat, a close ally of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and the first Dominican American elected to the House, represents exactly the kind of mainstream Democratic figure the socialist wing sees as an obstacle.
Mamdani himself framed the endorsement in generational terms, saying it would "take a new generation of leadership to ensure that the heartbeat of this party is once again the struggles of the working class." He called Avila Chevalier "a champion" for Uptown Manhattan and the Bronx.
That language, working class, champion, new generation, is standard progressive branding. But it sits uneasily next to Avila Chevalier's record of attacking Biden from the left, dismissing Bernie Sanders for voting "present" on Israeli military funding, and treating the American flag as a napkin. This is not a candidate running on kitchen-table economics. This is a candidate who emerged from campus protest culture and carries every marker of the activist left.
Jay Jacobs laid out the political risk clearly. The state party chairman warned against "fomenting dissent in the primaries when we have so much at stake in the general election." He said Mamdani was not being a team player by "messing with the New York congressional delegation."
Jacobs's concern is practical as much as ideological. Democrats need their New York seats. A fractured primary, especially one driven by a mayor endorsing against his own party's incumbents, could weaken candidates heading into November. And the optics of the party's most prominent city official backing a candidate with Avila Chevalier's social media history give Republicans material that writes itself.
Mamdani's approach to governing has already drawn scrutiny on multiple fronts. His management of New York City's massive school spending budget has attracted pointed criticism from the private sector.
Roth Smith noted that Mamdani did not get all of the tax hikes he wanted from Governor Kathy Hochul and the state Legislature in this year's budget negotiations. The implication: Mamdani is looking to Congress to build a bloc that will push his fiscal agenda from Washington, since Albany has not given him everything he wants.
Personnel decisions at City Hall have also raised eyebrows, including a case in which a probation department staffer alleged she was fired for reporting misconduct involving a Mamdani appointee.
Mamdani bested Andrew Cuomo in both the mayoral Democratic primary and the general election in the 13th District. He carries real political capital. The question now is whether that capital translates beyond his own races and into the power to reshape the city's congressional delegation.
The June 23 primaries will answer that question in at least three districts. If Avila Chevalier, Valdez, and Lander all win, Mamdani will have effectively installed a socialist caucus within New York's House delegation. If they lose, the endorsements will look like overreach, a mayor spending political capital on ideological projects while the city faces its own challenges.
New York's political turbulence extends well beyond congressional primaries. The city has seen everything from elected officials arrested at protests to ongoing disputes over immigration enforcement involving city government employees.
Jacobs, for his part, offered a parting shot that carried the weight of a warning: "We'll see how that turns out."
The broader pattern is familiar. Progressive leaders endorse candidates with radical records, then act surprised when the general electorate recoils. Mamdani is betting that his popularity can carry candidates whose public statements would disqualify them in most districts in America. The flag-wiping, the Biden slurs, the anti-police rhetoric, none of it gave him pause.
That tells you everything about where the Democratic Party's center of gravity has moved in New York City. And it tells you what the party establishment is too weak to stop.