Darializa Avila Chevalier, the new face of the American Socialists

It had been since 2018 that New York had witnessed the surprising rise of a socialist candidate – namely, when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, not yet 30, defeated the Democratic Party veteran Joe Crowley for a seat in the House of Representatives. In the intervening years, the left wing of the Democrats – now in opposition in America – has grown stronger, responding to the demands of that section of the electorate, particularly young people, who can no longer cope with the prohibitive cost of living, especially in cities such as New York. And it is no coincidence that it was in New York that the young socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani was elected in New York, forcing the Democrats to come to terms with that section of the party which does not identify with the moderate, centrist line.

Following Ocasio-Cortez and Mamdani, New York then witnessed the victory in June of Darializa Avila Chevalier, a 32-year-old activist and PhD student who, in a contest between Latino candidates, defeated the favourite, Adriano Espaillat, who had served as MP for nearly 10 years in one of the city’s poorest constituencies, the 13th district, covering Upper Manhattan and the Bronx. New York has thus been the testing ground for one of the most interesting political transformations of recent years (not forgetting, of course, the radical shift within the Republican Party following the rise of Donald Trump), and Darializa Avila Chevalier, who is contesting her first political election, is the new face of this change. She shares with her predecessors – a politician of Dominican origin who often speaks Spanish rather than English – her young age, a family history of migration, and membership of the Democratic Socialists of America (the DSA, to which Ocasio-Cortez has also recently rejoined). She also shares extreme positions on the war in the Palestinian Territories and on Israel.

The success of Avila Chevalier, who was raised by a single mother facing financial hardship, heralded the start of the socialist wave across the United States this summer. The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) won the primaries not only in New York, but also in Colorado and in Michigan. Before them, another socialist candidate, Chris Rabb, had secured victory in Pennsylvania in May. The most recent surprise victory, however, came in Florida, where Angie Nixon defeated a rival tipped as the favourite in the Democratic Senate primary. Today, Avila Chevalier is described by the Financial Times as ‘the face of the American socialist insurrection’, as if to designate a new leader of the movement that is no longer confined to isolated, albeit charismatic, figures such as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. A few days ago, CNN described her as the candidate who toppled the party establishment: ‘Avila Chevalier has become one of the most divisive — and potentially most influential — figures in a rebellion that has defeated several incumbent lawmakers and left the party at a crossroads’.

Like other socialist politicians, Avila Chevalier is a strong advocate on the issue of immigration and insists on the abolition of ICE and the fight against all deportations from the country. Before standing for election to Congress, she worked with the organisation Families for Freedom to try to halt deportations and spent three years attending deportation hearings and interviewing those involved in these proceedings, as part of her PhD in sociology at the City University of New York. In the past, she has written rather controversial tweets against Kamala Harris and Joe Biden (whom she described as a ‘rapist’), which continue to be held against her. Her participation in a controversial demonstration in support of the Palestinians, the day after Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, also caused quite a stir.

Since then, Avila Chevalier has appeared frequently on Fox News; she has been a target of President Donald Trump’s campaign rallies and a source of concern for Democrats in the House, who fear being portrayed by Republicans as socialists or communists. During her university years, she undertook a summer placement teaching English to Palestinians living in refugee camps in the West Bank. That experience helped shape the campaigning that would come to define her adult life, as well as prompting her to convert to Islam. She later also took part in protests at Columbia University against Israel’s war in Gaza.