The investigation exposes that Zohran Mamdani backed a New York congressional hopeful whose deleted social posts pushed for abolishing police and prisons, seizing private property, and nationalizing industries; the candidate has since said she has changed and Mamdani still backs her. This article lays out the key revelations, the campaign dynamics, the candidate’s response, and Mamdani’s defense ahead of the June 23 primary. Expect a direct look at what those old messages mean for voters and for the direction of the Democratic primary.
Zohran Mamdani endorsed Darializa Avila Chevalier in her bid to replace Rep. Adriano Espaillat, and a recent review turned up deleted social posts that worry a lot of people. The unearthed messages pushed for radical policies like abolishing police and prisons and seizing private property, positions that most Americans link to failed state-run systems. For voters who want stability and public safety, those claims are serious and not easy to shrug off.
The deleted account included posts calling for nationalizing major industries and open borders style policies that echo authoritarian governments abroad. “We’re gonna defund and abolish. You don’t get to water down our movements,” one reported post reads. Another blunt line said, “It means ending policing full stop. Period. No more police at all ever,” and both lines were preserved in the reporting exactly as written.
Some of the content was crude and confrontational, including provocative language directed at the New York Police Department. “In New York they don’t say ‘I love you,’ they say ‘NYPD suck my d**k’ and I think that’s beautiful,” one post declared. Those kinds of words not only offend many voters but also signal a worldview that rejects institutions most people rely on for order and safety.
Chevalier, a 32-year-old doctoral student and investigator in the public defender’s office, has addressed the resurfaced posts without denying they were hers. “My opponent wants to live in the past. He is re-litigating social media posts from half a decade ago and continuing to champion an outdated politics that fails to serve our people,” she said. ‘I have grown considerably since in the years since these tweets.’
Her other past posts included sharp attacks on Democratic leaders and institutions, including the DNC and prominent officials. She called the Democratic National Committee a “big fraudulent white nasty status quo bitch” and wrote, “I have no nuance to add. F**k Kamala Harris.” Those lines make clear she was pushing a raw and uncompromising rhetoric well outside mainstream political discourse.
The battle between Chevalier and Espaillat is being framed as another proxy fight between establishment Democrats and the party’s far left. To conservative voters and many independents, this is not a trivial policy dispute but a fundamental choice about whether elected officials will defend law and order or push sweeping systemic change. Mamdani’s endorsement signals where he stands in that internal party divide.
Mamdani has doubled down rather than stepping back, promising Chevalier will tackle economic pain points he says plague New Yorkers. “In Congress, she’ll take on corporate greed, bad landlords, and D.C.’s broken political system,” he said, staying publicly aligned with her campaign. That defense tries to shift the focus from past tweets to housing, corporate power, and economic fairness.
The report that brought these posts back into the spotlight reviewed hundreds of messages and found additional deleted tweets beyond earlier coverage. Previous outlets had noted some of her posts, but this wider review pulled more troubling items into the open. For voters, that means evaluating whether past statements match current promises and how credible those promises are.
Mamdani framed Chevalier as someone who will fight for working families against concentrated power, saying she will take on the forces that make the city unaffordable. “At a time when power is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, Darializa will fight in Congress for New York City’s working families,” he added. “She’s the champion we need for a city New Yorkers can actually afford.”
The Democratic primary is set for June 23, and that date puts these issues front and center for voters deciding who should represent the 13th District. Supporters will argue past posts are youthful or misread, while skeptics will treat them as a warning sign about policy priorities and temperament. Either way, the resurfaced social media history makes this primary one to watch closely.
