CNN: Mamdani-Backed Congressional Nominee Posted Favorably About Communism, Lenin And Marxism

CNN’s KFile reported that Darializa Avila Chevalier, the Mamdani-backed Democratic nominee for New York’s 13th Congressional District, maintained a since-deleted Twitter account with repeated favorable references to communism, Marxism and Soviet figures, including Vladimir Lenin.

Avila Chevalier defeated longtime Rep. Adriano Espaillat in last week’s Democratic primary, one of several victories by candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists of America. The new CNN report adds to scrutiny of her political record after earlier deleted posts drew attention over Israel, police, prisons and borders.

According to NY1, citing The Associated Press, Avila Chevalier will become the Democratic nominee after defeating Espaillat. With more than 86% of the expected vote counted, she had 49.4% of the vote, compared with 45.9% for Espaillat. The district includes parts of Upper Manhattan and the Bronx. If elected in November, she would become the first Dominican woman to represent the district.

CNN reported that the deleted account, “Darializabonet,” appeared to have been deleted in June 2022. Its bio read, “how communist of you.” Archived posts and retweets included a recommendation that Karl Marx’s Capital was an “essential must-read,” a complaint that public libraries did not carry enough Marxist literature by Lenin and other revolutionary writers, and a retweet from a communist-identifying account about The Complete Works of J. V. Stalin.

In another post cited by CNN, Avila Chevalier commented on the animated film Anastasia, calling it “an explicitly anti-USSR kid’s movie.” In a linked post, she wrote: “Time for me to once again sympathize with the people the Bolsheviks put in the blender for like 90 min.”

The report followed earlier CNN reporting on deleted posts from the same account. Those posts included phrases such as “seize the means of production,” calls to abolish police, prisons and borders, and comments calling into question Israel’s right to exist. CNN also reported that one post described wiping her dirty hands on the American flag instead of using a napkin.

Avila Chevalier attended Columbia University as an undergraduate, where CNN said she organized with Students for Justice in Palestine. After graduation, she became involved in pro-Palestinian campus protests over Israel’s war in Gaza. CNN also reported that she attended a controversial pro-Palestinian rally in Times Square on October 8, 2023, one day after the Hamas attack on Israel, where speeches and rhetoric praised the attack.

Avila Chevalier previously told CNN, “I have grown considerably in the years since these tweets, and I am focused on our community and our community’s future.”

President Donald Trump accused Avila Chevalier of being a communist last week. Asked about the charge on MSNOW, she declined to respond directly, saying, “I won’t be reactive.”

Avila Chevalier is now expected to run in November as the Democratic nominee in a heavily Democratic New York district. The deleted-post controversy continues to draw national attention as Democrats face questions over the rise of far-left candidates in deep-blue primaries.