Democratic Primary Forum: Adriano Espaillat and Darializa Avila Chevalier

**Brian Lehrer** (0:00)
Next Tuesday night, WNYC's Bridget Bergen and New York One's Errol Lewis and I will co-moderate a debate among the five Democrats running for Gerald Nadler's seat as he retires from that Manhattan district. We'll play excerpts here the next morning if you can't tune in Tuesday night. Now, we turn to New York's 13th congressional district in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx, where the incumbent, Adriano Espaillat, is being challenged by activist, Darializa Avila Chevalier, who has the backing of Mayor Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists of America. Chevalier had previously worked on Mamdani's mayoral campaign. Espaillat had endorsed Andrew Cuomo in the mayoral primary.
Avila Chevalier attended Columbia undergrad and is now studying for a doctorate in sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center for a little bit of bio and working as an investigator for the group Neighborhood Defender Services of Harlem. Congressman Espaillat has represented the district since 2017
He served in the state legislature before that. He is chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and was the first formerly undocumented immigrant elected to the House of Representatives. I imagine they'll talk more about each of their respective bios and records as we go. The 13th congressional district covers East Harlem and the northernmost parts of the Upper West Side, then up through the rest of Northern Manhattan and the adjacent area of the Bronx, including Morris Heights, University Heights, Kingsbridge Heights, Bedford Park and Fordham. According to Data USA, the population of the district is about 50% Latino, about a quarter black, about 15% white and a third foreign born within those categories. We will use Mr. and Ms. as we do in these formats, not people's titles. So Mr. Espaillat, Ms. Avila Chevalier, welcome and thanks very much for engaging in this forum and in our electoral process. Hello. Hi.

**Darializa Avila Chevalier** (2:04)
Thanks so much for having us, Brian.

**Adriano Espaillat** (2:05)
Thank you, Brian.

**Adriano Espaillat** (2:07)
Thank you for having us, Brian.

**Brian Lehrer** (2:08)
Listeners, the format for this forum will be like last week's, for the 10th and 17th congressional district primaries. It'll be informal and conversational, not a formal debate. I'll post questions and try to moderate in good faith. And listeners, you can pose some questions too, by calling in or texting 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.
But we do have some guidelines. First priority, we'll go to undecided voters in the district. If you're undecided and plan to vote in this primary, we encourage you to call in with a question, 212-433-WNYC.
But whoever calls or texts, we ask that you come with questions, not speeches or endorsements. The candidates can argue their positions for themselves. Our screeners will ask you to identify if you support one or the other or undecided. We know some of you fake that. And whether you're from in or out of the district, whatever you are is okay. We just want to be as transparent as we can about who we're putting on. So undecided's first priority from those parts of Manhattan and the Bronx, but anyone else too, 212-433-WNYC. If you have a question for these candidates, 212-433-9692, call or text. As we've all agreed, we will have no opening statements. We will have closing statements at the end. So Ms. Avila Chevalier, Mr. Espaillat is the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. He was the first formerly undocumented immigrant, member of Congress, kind of a household name in the district. Why challenge a sitting incumbent with community credentials like those?

**Darializa Avila Chevalier** (3:52)
Well, first of all, thanks again, Brian, for having us. You know, when you grow up as the daughter of Dominican immigrants, and you watch your parents work multiple jobs and still struggle to make ends meet, you watch your neighbors get pushed out of their homes, watch politicians blame our communities, instead of the corporations that are robbing us blind, all the while continuing to send our tax dollars to drop bombs on babies, you organize and you fight back. And that's what I've been doing my entire adult life.
I'm running because this community deserves a representative who actually shows up for them. Not for the wealthy, the well-connected, but for all of us. You know, I'm a teacher, I'm an Afro-Latina organizer, was tired of the establishment politics that has always looked at this community and seen statistics instead of people. I've been fighting for immigration justice my entire adult life. I've been fighting for our community my entire adult life. And, you know, I'm tired of a politics that has always seen us as problems to be managed instead of as people worth fighting for. And that ends on June 23rd.

**Brian Lehrer** (4:48)
Mr. Espaillat, your response.

**Adriano Espaillat** (4:51)