A stunning coalition of city elected Latino officials issued a joint statement Sunday endorsing five-term Rep. Adriano Espaillat ahead of Tuesday’s bitter Democratic primary.
Espaillat, 71, is facing a fierce re-election challenge from democratic socialist insurgent Darializa Avila Chevalier, 32, who has the backing of far-left Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists of America.
The 13th House District up for grabs covers Harlem, East Harlem, Washington Heights, Inwood and portions of the western Bronx.
About half of the constituents in the district are of Hispanic descent, mostly Dominican and Puerto Rican.
Both Espaillat and Chevalier are of Dominican heritage.
“Adriano is one of us. He knows our neighborhoods, our struggles, our history, and our hopes because he has lived this work for decades,” said the statement signed by neighboring Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres, former Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and state assembly members Yudelka Tapia, Manny De Los Santos and George Alvarez, as well as City Council members Shaun Abreu and Carmen De Le Rosa.
“He has not just spoken for this community. He has delivered for this community.”
The group noted that as a member of the House Appropriations Committee, Espaillat helped deliver federal dollars to the district, including support for schools, youth programs, higher education, NYCHA safety upgrades, housing improvements, public infrastructure, and to community institutions.
“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.
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