New York’s 13th Congressional District Primary: Espaillat vs. Chevalier

The June 23, 2026 Democratic primary for New York’s 13th congressional district pits five-term incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat against 32-year-old challenger Darializa Avila Chevalier. The race determines the party’s nominee in a heavily Democratic district that includes upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx. Mayor Zohran Mamdani has endorsed Chevalier, while the Broadway Democrats, a left-wing Manhattan political club, have endorsed Espaillat, citing Chevalier’s refusal to condemn Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks.

The Guardian

Espaillat, first elected in 2017, was the first Dominican-American and formerly undocumented immigrant to serve in Congress. The district’s population is predominantly Afro-Latino, with longstanding Dominican neighborhoods in Washington Heights and a sizable Haitian community. Poverty rates in the district are high: 35 % of children live in poverty, and city-wide poverty reached 26 % in 2024. Over the past two decades, more than 200,000 Black New Yorkers have left the city, a trend Chevalier cites as evidence of stagnant local conditions.

The Guardian

• Adriano Espaillat – Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus; endorsed by the Democratic establishment and former governor Andrew Cuomo.

The Guardian

• Darializa Avila Chevalier – Former Columbia activist, public-defense investigator, PhD candidate, and United Auto Workers Local 2325 member. Endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, Sunrise Movement, Justice Democrats, and several New York City council and state legislators.

The Guardian

• Zohran Mamdani – New York City mayor, who publicly condemned anti-Haitian slurs used against Chevalier.

New York Post

• Rusking Pimentel – Former senior adviser to Espaillat, who made racially charged comments about Chevalier’s heritage.

City and State New York

Internal campaign polling in March showed Espaillat leading 42 % to 28 %. A June 2026 Data for Progress poll indicated a tighter race, with Chevalier at 39 % and Espaillat at 35 %.

The Guardian

The Broadway Democrats released a statement that Chevalier “refuses to condemn Hamas or anything about it, its Oct. 7th… murders, misogyny, homophobia, racism.” Mamdani denounced the use of “Haitian” as a slur and affirmed that anti-Black sentiment in the race is unacceptable. Espaillat told supporters, “She’s Dominican, she’s Dominican,” and criticized Chevalier’s experience, saying, “Getting results in Congress is not a PhD program.” Chevalier has said she does condemn Hamas but argues U.S. tax dollars fund “indiscriminate slaughter” in Gaza.

New York Post

Pimentel alleged that Chevalier and Mamdani aim to “change the demography of Washington Heights” from a Dominican to a “Haitian, Muslim” stronghold, framing the claim as a demographic replacement narrative. He also questioned Chevalier’s Dominican identity, suggesting she is “Afro-Latina” from Florida. Critics have highlighted Chevalier’s participation in a Times Square protest on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after the Hamas attacks, and her past involvement with the pro-Palestine doxing site Canary Mission.

City and State New York

Chevalier’s public remarks assert she condemns Hamas, yet the Broadway Democrats note she declined to do so at an endorsement meeting, turning the question into “another attack on Israel.” Pimentel’s comments were issued while on unpaid leave, and Espaillat’s campaign has not formally responded to accusations that the incumbent is “beholden to AIPAC.” No independent verification of the internal poll methodologies is provided.

New York Post

• “What I will not do is let a question be used to distract us from the documented reality that over hundreds of thousands of people, Palestinians specifically, have been killed.” — Darializa Avila Chevalier, candidate

New York Post

• “While, yes, I do condemn Hamas, the problem is that our country, the thing that we can control, is where our money and our tax dollars are going,” — Darializa Avila Chevalier

New York Post

• “Mamdani, who is also Muslim, his goal is to change the demography of Washington Heights, that Washington Heights no longer be a bastion of the Dominican community, that it rather become a bastion of the Haitian, Muslim community allied to him,” — Rusking Pimentel, former senior adviser to Rep. Espaillat

City and State New York

• “She’s Dominican, she’s Dominican,” — Rep. Adriano Espaillat

City and State New York

• “Getting results in Congress is not a PhD program,” — Rep. Adriano Espaillat

The Guardian

• “I think it’s time that we have a politics that actually invests in life, not just as rhetoric, that we put our money where our mouth is, that our budget reflects those values, and that we see our resources come back to our communities to fund our schools to fund housing for all, to make sure that we are investing in all the social safety net programs that allow us to lead dignified lives,” — Darializa Avila Chevalier

The Guardian

The primary will decide whether the district remains under Espaillat’s long-standing incumbency or shifts to a progressive platform championed by Chevalier. Voter turnout, the impact of identity-based attacks, and the handling of foreign-policy questions are likely to shape the final result and signal broader trends for progressive challengers in urban Democratic primaries.

The Guardian