Darializa Avila Chevalier is a community organizer and the Democratic nominee for U.S. House in New York's 13th district. She won the June 23, 2026 Democratic primary over five-term incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat and advances to the November general election.
Case
NYC-DSA makes Tisch's dismissal conditional on ending police complicity with ICE after the Marble Hill confrontation. Chevalier calls for her to step down. City Hall plans to retain her.
Case
An ICE officer shot a man in a car in Marble Hill on October 8. DHS calls it a targeted arrest and had not said by October 9 why the officer fired. Mamdani says early reports indicate agents surrounded the man and child before firing.
Case
An issue tracker recording where members of Congress and 2026 midterm candidates stand on the unauthorized Iran war, based on their votes on war-powers resolutions, campaign statements, and public remarks.
Role at the time: Congressional candidate describing her experience at the Marble Hill protest
Statement summary
Chevalier calls for Tisch to step down, citing her account of police violence and Tisch's explanation of the shooting.
“The NYPD’s Strategic Response Group must be disbanded as quickly as possible, and Commissioner Tisch must step down.”
The reference is Mamdani's continued retention of Tisch. Chevalier rejects her continued leadership through an unconditional resignation demand.
Role at the time: Democratic nominee for U.S. House in New York's 13th district, who went to the scene, speaking to New York Magazine
Statement summary
Darializa Avila Chevalier, the Democratic nominee for Congress in New York's 13th district, told New York Magazine that if the shooting followed a targeted arrest, the agents would have known who they were arresting, that he was a father, where he was going and who might be with him, and that he would be driving through a busy public space. She said this shows that "these people" are cruel and do not care about the impact on the community. New York Magazine reported she was answering DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin's claim that officers did not know a child was in the car.
“If this was a targeted arrest, then they would have known who they were arresting ... They would have known that he was a father; they would have known where he was going and who might be with him. They would have known that, at the time he was driving there, it would be a very public space. It would have been a time of people passing by who are coming from home and school. It just shows that these people are not only cruel, they're also idiots. They're idiots who do not care what the impact is on our community.”
The reference point is whether the ICE officer was justified in shooting the man in the car. Avila Chevalier answers the claim that the officers did not know a child was in the car by saying a targeted arrest means they would have known he was a father and who might be with him, and says these people are cruel and do not care about the community, which rejects the shooting as unjustified, so we labeled it Condemned. The closest competing label is Challenged the characterization, because she disputes DHS's account of what the officers knew; she also states a verdict on the agents' conduct, so it loses.
Role at the time: Democratic nominee for U.S. House, New York's 13th district; organizer and former Neighborhood Defender Service investigator
Statement summary
In an interview with The Nation as an Iran deal was unveiled, Darializa Avila Chevalier said she is always pushing for diplomacy over the country's instinct to run towards its war machine, and called the war deeply costly in human life and one whose financial cost falls on poor people in this country.
“I'm always pushing for diplomacy. We have an instinct to run towards our war machine and to use it in really horrific ways, and what we really need is to make sure that we're actually engaging in diplomacy and saving human lives.”
Avila Chevalier pushed diplomacy over the war machine and tallied the war's human and financial costs, a clear opposition position.
Statement dates: June 19, 2026
Statement dates: October 9, 2026
Statement dates: October 9, 2026
Statement dates: June 19, 2026
Statement dates: October 9, 2026
Statement dates: June 19, 2026 to October 9, 2026
