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Mamdani-backed DSA candidate’s win in NYC district leaves residents reeling: ‘No real roots in the neighborhood’

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An ultra-progressive candidate pulled off a shock victory in the Democratic primary for New York’s 13th District — and people there say it was down to one thing: Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s blessing.

Democratic Socialists of America member Darializa Avila Chevalier’s victory is proof a tiny minority of ultra-progressive primary voters can shake up an entire district, leaving many residents feeling left behind.

Chevalier, a 32-year-old doctoral student, beat nine-year incumbent and longtime politician Adriano Espaillat, with the votes of only 7% of active Democratic voters in the district, after Mamdani switched his backing from Espaillat to her.  

Until then the incumbent, a moderate Democrat and former undocumented immigrant popular with the majority black and Hispanic population of NY-13, was seen as a dead cert to win.

“There’s just very little known about her,” Nancy, a professional investor and Washington Heights native, said. “She didn’t have much of a track record or any real roots in the neighborhood, so who knows?”

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Nancy, who didn’t want her last name used, said she thought Mamdani’s endorsement is behind the surprise result — and his blessing inspired gentrifiers to show up to the polls en masse, displacing old-timers.

“There are a lot of new people who’ve moved in, and the populations that [Espaillat] served and he mostly speaks to, don’t necessarily make it to the polls, so it’s like a disproportionate representation really,” she claimed.

Early analyses show  young, college-educated, high-income black and white voters pushed Chevalier, who has never held........

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