MONTEVIDEO — Talk about out-of-touch priorities. While working-class New Yorkers struggle with skyrocketing rent and crime, Democratic Socialist congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier took off to South America for a summit with global leftists, all while claiming she is totally focused on her November general election race.
The 32-year-old radical activist—who pulled off a shocking primary upset against veteran Democratic Representative Adriano Espaillat in June—appeared on a local radio station in Uruguay during a trip to attend the Pan-American Congress in Montevideo. Sitting comfortably in a foreign radio studio, Chevalier told hosts that right now she is "very focused" on her general election campaign and on showing voters how socialism can supposedly change lives. But actions speak louder than words, and New York voters might wonder why a candidate supposedly focused on representing them is thousands of miles away junketing with overseas leftists.
Chevalier isn't travelling alone. She hit the international trail alongside fellow Democratic Socialists of America member Claire Valdez—who won her primary for a New York Assembly seat—and progressive federal lawmakers including Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Representative Chuy Garcia of Illinois. Rather than pounding the pavement back home in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx, the delegation headed south to join radical organizers in opposing American foreign policy in the Western Hemisphere.
During the Uruguayan radio appearance, Chevalier offered a bizarre defense of left-wing ideology, arguing that socialism simply looks like historical street gangs—including the Black Panthers and the Young Lords—handing out food and sweeping trash when local government fails. She went even further, attempting to claim that working-class Americans who voted for Donald Trump are secretly ready to embrace socialism, leaning on cherry-picked focus group commentary while ignoring why regular working people rejected the progressive agenda in the first place.
The South American tour is just the latest reminder of Chevalier’s radical record. Before scrubbing her social media accounts, the activist routinely hyped Marxist-Leninist figures and communist ideology online.
She also co-founded an activist organization that explicitly calls for the total eradication of Western civilization. Back home in New York, regular voters are looking for lower taxes, safer streets, and real accountability, but their Democratic nominee seems far more interested in jet-setting to foreign socialist conferences than fixing the daily problems plaguing her own district.
