A notable bloc of Latino elected officials in New York City released a joint statement Sunday backing five-term Rep. Adriano Espaillat ahead of Tuesday’s contentious Democratic primary.
Espaillat, 71, is trying to fend off a vigorous challenge from 32-year-old democratic socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier, an insurgent candidate supported by far-left Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists of America.
The contested 13th Congressional District includes Harlem, East Harlem, Washington Heights, Inwood and sections of the western Bronx.
Roughly half of the district’s residents are Hispanic, with Dominican and Puerto Rican communities making up a large share of that population.
Espaillat and Chevalier both have Dominican roots.
“Adriano is one of us. He knows our neighborhoods, our struggles, our history, and our hopes because he has lived this work for decades,” read the statement, signed by neighboring Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres, former Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., state Assembly members Yudelka Tapia, Manny De Los Santos and George Alvarez, and City Council members Shaun Abreu and Carmen De Le Rosa.
“He has not just spoken for this community. He has delivered for this community.”
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The officials pointed to Espaillat’s role on the House Appropriations Committee, saying he has helped steer federal funding to the district for schools, youth initiatives, higher education, NYCHA safety improvements, housing upgrades, public infrastructure and community organizations.
“That is what leadership looks like,” the Latino leaders wrote.
“We stand with Adriano Espaillat because he has led, he has delivered, and he has never forgotten where he comes from.”
Chevalier is meanwhile known for publicly making racist remarks against white women, ridiculing them as “ugly colonizer women” and black and “Arab’’ men for “fetishizing” them.
