Democratic strategist James Carville wants House Democrats to disavow socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier, who won a New York House primary on Tuesday and is bound for a seat in Congress next year.
Mr. Carville, the architect of Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential victory over incumbent George H.W. Bush, said Ms. Avila Chevalier isn’t really a Democrat and the party should turn its back on her.
“They should not seat her in the caucus,” Mr. Carville told NewsNation. “Her views are totally against anything that Democrats have. We believe in pluralism; she doesn’t believe in interracial dating.”
Ms. Avila Chevalier is among several socialist candidates who prevailed in Tuesday’s primaries and are likely to win their deep-blue districts in November, leaving the Democratic Party facing a new rebel wing of leftists in their caucus when the new Congress convenes in January.
Ms. Avila Chevalier is a former campaign staffer for New York City’s socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani. She defeated incumbent Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat, who heads the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Ms. Avila Chevalier was part of a campus group at Columbia University that called for “Death to America.” In social media posts that have since been deleted, she supported abolishing the police and prisons. She continues to oppose all deportations of illegal immigrants, including criminals.
Ms. Avila Chevalier can’t be blocked from taking a seat in Congress.
Mr. Carville said Democrats should instead refuse to give her any committee assignments, a move that would render her nearly powerless in Congress, especially if Democrats win back the majority.
Ms. Avila Chevalier, Mr. Carville said, “is not a Democrat,” adding, “I think a lot of Democrats feel like I do.”
He described himself as merely “a washed-up, old consultant,” but advised his party, “I wouldn’t seat her” in the Democratic caucus. “This is not who we are.”
On Wednesday, New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino, a Republican, said Ms. Avila Chevalier’s anti-American activism makes her ineligible to be sworn into her House seat.
Ms. Avila Chevalier was a member of Students for Justice in Palestine and helped found Columbia University Apartheid Divest or CUAD, which advocates “use of violence in America.”
Democratic leaders brushed off such concerns about Ms. Avila Chevalier and other far-left candidates who prevailed in the primaries, saying they aren’t planning to block them from committee assignments.
“Voters have that ability to make those decisions in Democratic primaries. And we’ll work with whoever they send,” said House Democratic Conference Chairman Pete Aguilar of California.
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