2026 New York's 13th congressional district election

Detention of Mahmoud Khalil

The event that immediately preceded Espaillat receiving a primary challenge was the 2025 detention and attempted deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, a high-profile pro-Palestine activist who was a student at Columbia University and a resident of NY-13.^[9][10] Khalil's wife had attempted to reach out to Espaillat for legal assistance, but was ignored by the congressman even as his detention became a national progressive cause célèbre and neighbouring representatives such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nydia Velázquez successfully pushed for his release.^[9][10] Espaillat's lack of support for Khalil led to charges that he was abandoning his constituents, and greatly increased the salience of previous critiques he had faced from progressive groups for accepting donations from pro-Israel groups such as AIPAC.^[10]

Espaillat's lack of attention to the Khalil case led one of his fellow organisers at the Columbia University Gaza Solidarity Encampment, graduate student Darializa Avila Chevalier, to approach the left-wing group Justice Democrats to argue that the incumbent was vulnerable to a primary challenge from the left.^[11][12] A member of the New York City Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA), Avila Chevalier had been NY-13 field lead for Zohran Mamdani in the 2025 New York City mayoral election.^[13] She was also friends with Khalil, and viewed Espaillat's lack of action on his detention as part of a broader trend of poor constituent services by the incumbent.^[11][14] The Justice Democrats responded by recruiting Avila Chevalier to run herself, and she announced her campaign in November 2025.^[12][15]

Contest for endorsements

Espaillat's position as chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus immediately gave him extensive resources to try and beat back the primary challenge, and the caucus spent heavily to support him.^[16][17] In addition the Congressional Black Caucus, which had long rebuffed the Afro-Latino Espaillat's attempt to join over anger at his old primary contests with Rangel and Wright, gave him their endorsement, and the incumbent's membership in the Congressional Progressive Caucus granted him their support as well, locking down a group that was potentially sympathetic to Chevalier.^[18][19] Espaillat was also supported by his long-time backers AIPAC, which directly spent $145,000 in support of him and had associated donors give significantly more.^{[17][20][21][22]}

Espaillat also feverishly worked to mend his ties with the Harlem machine, appealing to a shared interest in opposing the growing wave of left-wing insurgents that threatened to unseat both them and himself.^[23] In a June 2026 event Espaillat was endorsed by a wide coalition of African-American figures, including his old foe Keith Wright's son Jordan Wright, but the Manhattan boss himself was conspicuously absent.^[23] Analyst Michael Lange noted that despite these endorsements genuine enthusiasm for Espaillat was thin on the ground among Harlem elected officials, and that a lack of vigorous support would likely compound a longtime weakness the incumbent had in the area; while facing a low-profile primary challenge in 2020 Espaillat had only just surpassed 50% of the vote in Harlem.^[10][24]

Avila Chevalier, for her part, won the endorsement of NYC-DSA itself on December 20, 2025, but this endorsement did not immediately win her the support of newly elected mayor of New York Zohran Mamdani.^[25] Mamdani had already helped scupper two NYC-DSA congressional challengers that cycle, and was reluctant to back Chevalier after promising to endorse Espaillat in return for the incumbent's support in the 2025 mayoral general election.^[25] However, the mayor's mind was changed after Chevalier posted surprisingly strong fundraising numbers in the first quarter of 2026, NYC-DSA's support allowing her to outraise Espaillat $270,000 to $230,000.^[26][27] Mamdani announced his endorsement of Avila Chevalier in a joint interview on MS NOW on May 25, 2026.^[26] Avila Chevalier became the third congressional candidate that cycle backed by Mamdani alongside Brad Lander and Claire Valdez.^[28]

Avila Chevalier's increased prominence led to her receiving more support from outside groups; American Priorities, a pro-Palestine super PAC established to oppose AIPAC, spent $1.3 million to support her.^[20] She also received the support of some of Espaillat's old political rivals; Robert Jackson, eager for payback over Espaillat's attempt to primary him in 2022, endorsed her and rallied his Hudson Heights base to her side, whereas Gustavo Rivera remained neutral but publicly accused Espaillat's supporters of engaging in racist "great replacement" conspiracy theories over Avila Chevalier being Muslim.^[24][29]

Besides Espaillat and Avila Chevalier, two other minor candidates made the primary ballot for the race; Oscar Romero and Theo Chino-Tavarez, both of whom campaigned as socialists. Romero ran on making access to housing, healthcare and education recognised human rights.^[30] Chino-Tavarez was national secretary of the Social Democrats of America, a small DSA splinter group that had split from the wider organization in 2017 due to the DSA aligning with the Progressive International over the Socialist International.^[31][32] He based his campaign around supposedly being the only true socialist in the race, declaring that Espaillat was a right wing Christian democrat and that Avila Chevalier and Romero were "communist anarchists".^[33]

Policy disagreements

Avila Chevalier made the abolition of the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) one of the key planks of her campaign.^[9][34] Espaillat, who was formerly an undocumented immigrant himself, also called for ICE to be dismantled.^[9] Avila Chevalier however criticised him for voting in favour of several omnibus spending bills that provided funding for the agency, using this and the Mahmoud Khalil detention case to argue that the incumbent was insufficiently committed to dismantling it.^[9][35]

The Gaza War and Israel more broadly were major issues on the campaign trail, with Avila Chevalier condemning Israel as an apartheid state that was committing genocide in Gaza.^[36] As such, Avila Chevalier sought to end American support for Israel.^[37][21] Making reference to the detention of Khalil, she declared that Espaillat had been compromised by financial support from pro-Israel groups, and was placing their interests before the interests of his constituents.^[9] Espaillat supported a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and has called it a "horrific situation", but rejected the word "genocide", refused to co-sign the Block the Bombs Act and declared that he did not consider Israel as the culprit in the conflict.^[21][38]

Avila Chevalier came under scrutiny for attending an October 8, 2023 pro-Palestinian rally in Times Square organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation that was condemned by many politicians, including Avila Chevalier's fellow Mamdani-endorsee Brad Lander, for supposedly supporting the actions of Hamas.^[39][36] In March 2026, during a forum with the Broadway Democrats political club, Avila Chevalier, when asked whether she condemned Hamas for the October 7 attacks, responded: "The premise of that question, to me, ignores the 75 years of occupation that the Palestinian people have been subjected to and the conditions that folks were living under before this genocide began."^[36] When asked about condemning Hamas again in June, she said she did but added, "As far as I know, the US does not send a single dime to Hamas. What we fund is the Israeli military." Jeff Coltin, writing in City & State, viewed these comments as Avila Chevalier deliberately moderating her rhetoric in an effort to reassure voters.^[36]

The construction of affordable housing became a point of dispute between Espaillat and Avila Chevalier, despite both candidates supporting its construction.^[40][37] Gentrification was the primary cause of this dispute, with Espaillat arguing that Avila Chevalier's campaign was being driven by largely white internal migrants that were driving out local residents of Upper Manhattan by increasing the price of rent.^[41] Avila Chevalier countered by arguing that not being born in New York was irrelevant, and that a willingness to defend the 'material interests' of local communities was more important.^[41] Avila Chevalier supported federal funding for new social housing to lower rents.^[37]

Avila Chevalier's tweets

Between 2018 and 2022, Avila Chevalier made tweets which criticized mainstream Democrats and advocated for the abolition of police, prisons and borders.^[42][43][44] She responded to the coverage by saying "I was young, yes, and I was a millennial with internet access".^[43] Mamdani repeated his endorsement of Avila Chevalier, labelling her "the champion we need for a city New Yorkers can actually afford".^[44]

Antihaitianismo

Both Espaillat and Avila Chevalier are Dominican-Americans.^[29] However, during the campaign, Avila Chevalier was the target of racism animated by antihaitianismo in conservative Dominican circles.^[45][46][29] Some supporters of Espaillat falsely claimed she was Haitian, questioned her fidelity to the Dominican community in New York City, and referred to her as "Haitian" as a racial slur.^[45][46][47] City & State reported that a senior adviser to Espaillat, Rusking Pimentel, made racist and Islamophobic comments regarding Avila Chevalier in Spanish media, claiming that she and Mamdani sought to replace Dominicans with Muslims and Haitians.^[29] Espaillat disavowed the comments and told his supporters not to question Avila Chevalier’s heritage, asserting "she's Dominican".^[29] On election day, Avila Chevalier left an interview on the Spanish-language radio station La Mega 97.9 FM after she was yelled at by multiple hosts for supposedly disrespecting the flag of the Dominican Republic.^[48][49]

Nominee

• Darializa Avila Chevalier, graduate student and community organizer^[2]

Eliminated in primary

• Adriano Espaillat, incumbent U.S. representative^[2]
• Theo Chino-Tavarez, first national secretary at the Social Democrats of America^[31]
• Oscar Romero, chief information officer of the New York City Civic Engagement Commission^[30]

Withdrawn

• Jaliel Amador, teacher (endorsed Espaillat)^[50]
• Michael Hano, pet food salesman & candidate for this district in 2022^[51][52]
• James Felton Keith, activist, non-profit executive and candidate for this district in 2020^[53][54]
• Matt Miller, activist^[55]
• Megan C. Rodriguez, former congressional staffer^[56]

Results by county

Nominee

• Manual "Jomo" Williams, businessman and candidate for New York City Council in 2025^[120]