As a crowd of well-wishers recently gathered at an Episcopal church in Harlem to pay their respects to a Manhattan power broker whose wife had died, one person’s attendance raised eyebrows among the political cognoscenti.
Representative Adriano Espaillat joined the sea of mourners, staying long enough to shake hands with the Manhattan leader, Keith L.T. Wright.
His appearance suggested a potential change in the bitter feud between Mr. Espaillat and Mr. Wright — a turf war dating back to 2016, when Mr. Espaillat defeated Mr. Wright to become the first Dominican American elected to Congress, seizing a House seat long controlled by Black leaders from Harlem.
But it also suggested the lengths to which Mr. Espaillat might travel to defend his seat. In what has become arguably the fiercest primary battle in New York City this cycle, Mr. Espaillat is fighting to block a well-funded challenge from Darializa Avila Chevalier, a democratic socialist who has the backing of Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
The June 23 primary contest is the latest example of the internecine battles underway in the Democratic Party as a crop of young activists take on established politicians they feel are too beholden to corporate donors, real estate interests and Israel, to the exclusion of New Yorkers facing financial struggles.
And Harlem, the storied center of Black culture in New York City and a reliable source of high voter turnout, may play a critical role in the election’s outcome.
Mr. Espaillat left the church last Friday to head to Sylvia’s, the famed soul food restaurant in Harlem, where he addressed reporters before meeting with public housing residents. The following day, he hosted a rally on a busy thoroughfare in Harlem with union leaders who have rallied to his defense in the campaign’s final, frenetic weeks. And his campaign is actively courting Black religious leaders in Harlem, according to a person familiar with that effort.
Ms. Chevalier plans to be in Harlem on Friday for a news conference with the New York Progressive Action Network, which recently rescinded its endorsement of Mr. Espaillat to back her instead, citing hundreds of thousands of dollars of donations he’s received from pro-Israel forces.
“I think that Harlem will be the deciding factor,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton, whose civil rights organization, the National Action Network, is based in the neighborhood. “Adriano is going to have to show what he feels he delivered and she’s going to have to show why they should trust something new. I wouldn’t take anything for granted. I think it’s going to be won in the streets.”
Powerful Democrats will be helping Mr. Espaillat, apparently eager to protect the leader of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Representative Hakeem Jeffries, who stands to be the first Black speaker of the House if Democrats retake the chamber in November, has called Mr. Wright in recent weeks to ask him to set his anger aside and endorse Mr. Espaillat, according to three people familiar with the ongoing outreach.
Gov. Kathy Hochul had asked Mr. Mamdani to endorse Mr. Espaillat as well, according to two people familiar with the conversation. The mayor told her he would not be doing so, and days later announced his support for Ms. Avila Chevalier, 32. Ms. Hochul immediately got behind the 71-year-old incumbent.
“We’re going to continue to do everything we can to help Congressman Espaillat win,” Mr. Jeffries said in an interview on Wednesday, adding, “Keith Wright cares about the community; Adriano Espaillat cares about the community. It’s a common bond there, so anything is possible.”
Mr. Wright declined to comment on the race.
The 13th Congressional District that Mr. Espaillat represents had long been home to a battle between Black leaders in Harlem and Dominican immigrants in Washington Heights. In recent years, as New Yorkers scour the city for affordable apartments, the district has become whiter, younger and politically more left-leaning — fertile ground for the city’s democratic socialists seeking to make inroads uptown.
That shift was evident in recent mayoral elections. Former Mayor Eric Adams and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who lost the Democratic primary to Mr. Mamdani last year, both had strong Black support but performed far better in less gentrified, predominantly Black areas of Queens and Brooklyn than in Harlem.
Still, Mr. Espaillat’s newfound emphasis on Harlem, home to Mr. Wright and other Black power brokers he has been at war with, demonstrates the importance of expanding his support beyond his home base of largely Dominican-American neighborhoods north of Harlem.
An ad coming out on Friday from the Latino Victory Fund, which is supporting Mr. Espaillat, echoes Mr. Espaillat’s theme of denouncing gentrifiers to the Upper Manhattan district, a topic the incumbent discussed at his rally on Saturday. Ms. Avila Chevalier’s allies have called that line of attack “xenophobic.”
“We built these neighborhoods — the bodegas, the churches, the schools,” the narrator says. “But new forces have come in trying to push us out. It costs more to live here, more to eat, more to just get to work.” The spot highlights Mr. Espaillat’s record, including supporting the extension of the Second Avenue subway, and shows an image of Ms. Chevalier when referring to “the same forces pricing us out.”
BOLD PAC, which is affiliated with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus that Mr. Espaillat chairs, has spent more than $760,000 on advertisements for him, the most of any group spending on the race, according to AdImpact, an advertising data tracking firm. One digital spot in both English and Spanish emphasizes the congressman’s background as the first undocumented immigrant elected to Congress and his efforts to fight President Trump’s immigration agenda.
With eight days until early voting begins, Mr. Espaillat has more than $1 million in his campaign account, far more than the roughly $217,000 Ms. Avila Chevalier has, though she raised more than he had during the first three months of the year. There has been little public polling on the primary, but an internal poll Mr. Espaillat’s team conducted showed the contest tightening, according to three people he briefed on the results.
Both candidates have been lifted by a flood of spending from outside groups, as each side argues their credibility in fighting the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics.
Those backing Ms. Avila Chevalier point to her support of Mahmoud Khalil, the pro-Palestinian activist whom she organized protests with and who was arrested and detained by the Trump administration; and her opposition to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Mr. Mamdani and his chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem, have supported Mr. Khalil’s cause. Mr. Kassem, who lives in Mr. Espaillat’s district, attended a campaign rally for Ms. Chevalier a few days before the mayor’s endorsement. He also worked as a lawyer for Mr. Khalil.
Ms. Avila Chevalier suggested Mr. Espaillat was insufficiently supportive of Mr. Khalil when the two faced-off during a candidate forum hosted by WNYC on Thursday morning; he criticized her extensive social media posts that have drawn scrutiny.
In one such post, Ms. Avila Chevalier called former President Biden a “rapist”; in another, she wrote expletive-laden criticisms of former Vice President Kamala Harris. She has now deleted both those posts. She has also been highly critical of Israel, writing in a social media post in 2020, “Israel doesn’t exist!” and attending a pro-Palestinian rally the day after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
She criticized the “obsession” with her social media history during the candidate forum hosted by WNYC on Thursday, and said she is not “interested in relitigating” her posts.
The forum grew tense, with each candidate accusing the other of taking unsavory campaign donations and disparaging the other’s records.
“Getting results in Congress is not a Ph.D. program,” Mr. Espaillat said, referencing his opponent’s studies before running for office. “It is getting consensus. It is building a coalition.”
Mr. Espaillat’s coalition includes heavy union support; a representative for the New York City Central Labor Council of the AFL-CIO said about 150,000 union members and retirees live in the congressional district.
“It’s not that complicated: He has years of votes, relationships with the labor movement where he showed up for working people. He’s been a partner in Washington,” said Brendan Griffith, president of the council.
The city’s branch of the Democratic Socialists of America has endorsed Ms. Chevalier and is prioritizing this race down the homestretch. The group said it has a growing presence in the district, with 1,610 of its members living there.
Gustavo Gordillo, a co-leader of the organization, said the mayor’s endorsement of Ms. Chevalier, which she featured in an ad this week, has been a huge morale boost.
“I think for many people, the sense of viability shifted,” he said, adding, “It’s solidifying that this race is going to be a big test for the democratic socialist movement.”
David Paterson, a former governor of New York who comes from a prominent Harlem political family, said he has noticed the shifting demographics of the district.
“For whatever reason, the socialists are starting to pick up some support around here,” Mr. Paterson said in an interview.
Asked if he supports Mr. Espaillat, he replied, “Yes, but he hasn’t asked me,” nodding to the unresolved tension between the incumbent and Black figures from Harlem. “It’d be nice to get a call from him one day.”
Benjamin Oreskes contributed reporting.
Sally Goldenberg is a Times reporter covering New York City politics and government.
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