Darializa Avila Chevalier
Avila Chevalier made "babies, not bombs" her signature pledge, campaigning to end U.S. military aid and weapons transfers to Israel and redirect that money to housing, schools and healthcare in her district.
Avila Chevalier is a CUNY doctoral student, community organiser and Democratic Socialists of America member who won the Democratic primary in New York’s 13th District on June 23, 2026, defeating the five-term incumbent Adriano Espaillat.
Her position on U.S. weapons is the centre of her campaign rather than an answer she gave when asked. The Guardian, read in full, records that she "made ‘babies, not bombs’ the signature pledge of her campaign". The first search reports the pledge’s content consistently across four occasions: a call to end U.S. military aid and weapons transfers to Israel entirely, with the money redirected to housing, public education and healthcare in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx, restated in her primary victory speech and at a press conference with Mayor Mamdani.
She has characterised Israel’s operations in Gaza as a genocide and Israel as an apartheid state, and she helped organise the April 2024 Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Columbia.
She has no voting record; she has not held federal office.
Research
U.S. military aid and weapons to Israel
- 2026 [Current position; card-leading; VERIFIED IN PART]: The Guardian confirms she "made 'babies, not bombs' the signature pledge of her campaign". Read on the page. The pledge's specific content, a complete termination of U.S. military aid and weapons transfers to Israel, is reported by the first search from her platform and is not spelled out in the text as read; it is reported consistently enough across occasions to carry the card, and this note records the limit.
- 2026-06 [Current position]: On a WNYC primary candidate broadcast she argued the billions in annual U.S. military assistance to Israel should be redirected to domestic social safety nets in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx, including housing, public education and healthcare. The source page is the episode transcript. Not opened.
- 2026-06-23 and 2026-06-25 [Current position]: In her victory speech and at a press conference with Mayor Mamdani she reaffirmed a pledge to oppose weapons sales and military funding to Israel in Congress. Times of Israel coverage of the press conference of 2026-06-25.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
- Nothing located as a distinct funding position. Her argument is about ending U.S. military aid and redirecting it domestically, not about U.S. humanitarian funding.
Characterization of the conflict
- 2026 [Current position]: The first search reports she has publicly characterised Israel's military operations in Gaza as a "genocide" and described Israel as an "apartheid state". No single source page is attached to these two words specifically.
- 2024-04 [Current position]: As a Columbia alumna she took part in and helped organise the April 2024 Gaza Solidarity Encampment, demanding an immediate ceasefire and university divestment. Divestment campaigns are named out of scope by the content rule; the encampment is recorded here as what she did.
- 2026-07-10 [Current position]: In an interview on The Beinart Notebook she said: "I think the targeting of civilians is wrong in any context, including on October 7."
- 2026-03 [Current position]: At a Broadway Democrats candidate forum she declined to explicitly condemn the October 7 attack when asked directly. Recorded because it is what the first search found and because her July statement above bears on it.
- 2020 [Earlier record]: During the primary, outlets highlighted 2020 social media posts in which she reposted a comment stating "Israel doesn't exist" and called Joe Biden a "war criminal" over foreign policy. In a Vox interview of 2026-06-20 she said "I certainly wouldn't use a lot of the language that I used back then today." Earlier record by six years.
The October 8, 2023 rally
[Months after October 7, 2023, so on this page only. It was a major feature of her primary and it is recorded here in full, with each party's words attributed to that party.]
- 2023-10-08 [Months after October 7, 2023]: She attended a pro-Palestinian rally in Times Square the day after the October 7 attacks.
- 2026-06-04 and 2026-06 [Current position]: She defended her attendance to City & State and at a televised NY1 debate, saying she went because she anticipated an outsized reaction by Israeli forces that would cost thousands of civilian lives. The NY1 debate segment is a video with no retrievable text; a related NY1 post would not open.
- 2026-06-24 [Current position; VERIFIED]: Per The Guardian, the rally was one "that some viewed as condoning Hamas violence, with Espaillat accusing her of celebrating the death of Israeli civilians immediately after the attack". Her response, verbatim: she "would never celebrate the death of any human being", and she attended because she knew Israel's response "would be an outsized reaction that would cause the deaths of thousands upon thousands of people".
- 2026-07-10 [Current position]: In the Beinart interview she said attendees at public protests may express views she does not endorse, and that her advocacy rests on international law, which "condemns the targeting of civilians" while opposing collective punishment.
- **How the coverage frames it, recorded so a reader can weigh the sources.** Two outlets title their reports in the strongest terms: The Times of Israel of 2026-07-11 calls it a "pro-Hamas rally", and the Combat Antisemitism Movement of 2026-06-05 describes it as "celebrating Hamas massacre". The second is an advocacy organisation and never carries a card. The Jerusalem Post also covered it. Those are the outlets' characterisations, not findings, and none of them is adopted here.
Rhetoric and lobbying
[A money-and-lobbying argument must never read as a weapons or funding position. Her funding position is sourced separately above.]
- 2026-05 to 2026-06 [Current position]: She accused the incumbent of being "bought by the Israeli lobby" over his votes on military appropriations. The Guardian records that she criticised him as beholden to wealthy donors including AIPAC, "which in May reportedly poured $650,000 into a Super Pac opposing Avila Chevalier". That figure is the paper's reporting of spending against her, not a funding badge on this card.
- 2026-06-23 [Current position]: In her victory speech she said her win was a "clear mandate that the era of taking a check and cashing a check and calling it representation is over".
- 2026-07-10 [Current position]: In the Beinart interview she criticised what she called the "American war machine" and the "Israeli war machine" and the use of U.S. taxpayer funds to sustain foreign conflict.
- 2026-06-23 [Current position]: JTA on the primary challenge.
Safety and antisemitism
[Context only, never the answer to what America sends.]
- 2026-06-24 [Current position; VERIFIED]: Responding to allegations of antisemitism she said she "would never celebrate the death of any human being" and that her platform rests on universal human rights.
- 2026-07-10 [Current position]: She said her advocacy rests on international law condemning the targeting of civilians and opposing collective punishment.
What came back empty or unusable
- Two localcandidates.org pages would not open and two YouTube urls carry no retrievable text; one NY1 Facebook post would not open.
- Six of twenty sources are duplicates.
- No campaign platform url appears anywhere in the sources found, which is why the pledge's specific content rests on the first search rather than on a page that can be read.
Also in this race: Jomo Williams (Republican) · All New York candidates.
See the full record →But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. Every claim on this page goes through at least two verification steps. Open the interactive card for votes, funding and contact details.