Mamdani endorses DSA candidate who called America 'a f—ing disgrace' and wiped her hand on the flag

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani stood outside early voting booths at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Saturday and told reporters that Darializa Avila Chevalier, the 32-year-old Democratic Socialists of America congressional candidate whose since-deleted social media posts called the United States "a f, ing disgrace" and declared "I hate this f, king country", is "the perfect candidate" for Congress.

That was his phrase. Not "a solid choice." Not "someone I can work with." The perfect candidate.

Avila Chevalier is running in the Democratic primary for New York's 13th Congressional District against incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the Harlem-based congressman. The primary is Tuesday. And the mayor of the nation's largest city wants voters to know he is all in, not despite the candidate's record of anti-American vitriol, but apparently without regard for it.

The posts Mamdani says he never saw

Over the past few months, a series of deleted social media posts by Avila Chevalier surfaced publicly. The New York Post reported that the posts included accusations that U.S. veterans committed "war crimes," suggestions that the United States is worse than Hamas terrorists, and attacks on police officers. One post from 2019 read: "I forgot to get napkins so I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me," followed by a smiling emoji.

Earlier this month, Mamdani claimed he never saw any of those posts before endorsing her. On Saturday, he did not walk back the endorsement. He doubled down.

"I do wish that every New Yorker has the chance to vote for Darializa Avila Chevalier, for Claire Valdez, for Brad Lander. Three congressional candidates that I'm so excited to have endorsed, who would be incredible partners in the fight to make the world's, the country's most expensive city, into one that's affordable."

Affordable housing. That is the stated rationale for sending to Congress a candidate who posted about wiping her hand on the American flag and who wrote that she hates this country. The mayor's framing treats these revelations as irrelevant background noise, not as disqualifying conduct for someone seeking to represent American citizens in the U.S. House of Representatives.

A broader push to reshape Congress

Avila Chevalier is not Mamdani's only endorsed candidate. He also backed Claire Valdez, a Queens assemblywoman and DSA member running for an open seat in the 7th Congressional District, which covers waterfront neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens. The district has been described as home to a heavy concentration of DSA and other far-left voters. Retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez endorsed Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso in that race instead.

Mamdani's third endorsement went to Brad Lander, the former city comptroller, who is challenging incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman in the 10th Congressional District, a seat covering brownstone Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan. The 10th District has also been characterized as friendly territory for DSA-aligned candidates.

Three congressional primaries. Three candidates aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America. All endorsed by a sitting mayor who has already drawn sharp conservative backlash for his public statements on the role of government. The pattern is not subtle.

Some operatives and pundits believe Mamdani is pursuing a longer-term effort to shift the Democratic Party's center of gravity leftward, not just in City Hall, but in Washington. His endorsements ahead of Tuesday's primaries are consistent with that read.

The 12th District mystery

Mamdani did not, however, extend an endorsement in the race for New York's 12th Congressional District, the Manhattan seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler. That race features a crowded field: Upper East Side Assemblyman Micah Lasher, who secured Nadler's endorsement; East Side Assemblyman Alex Bores; Jack Schlossberg, grandson of President John F. Kennedy; public health researcher Nina Schwalbe; and lawyer George Conway.

Asked about his vote in that race, Mamdani was conspicuously tight-lipped.

"I'm gonna be keeping my vote in this race between myself, the ballot, and that incredible pen that the Board of Elections gives to every voter."

A mayor willing to publicly champion a candidate who posted about hating America suddenly discovered discretion when it came to a Manhattan congressional primary. The contrast tells its own story.

What 'perfect' means in Mamdani's New York

Consider what the mayor's endorsement communicates to voters and to the rest of the country. A candidate's social media history includes posts expressing contempt for the flag, contempt for the military, contempt for law enforcement, and contempt for the nation itself. Those posts were deleted, not retracted, not apologized for, but scrubbed. And the mayor's response, after claiming he never saw them, is to call the candidate "perfect."

This is the same mayor whose $5.2 million "engagement" office has ballooned in cost while the city faces real budget deficits. The same mayor who has faced hundreds of pro-Israel protesters at Gracie Mansion demanding his resignation.

Avila Chevalier has not, based on available reporting, made any public statement responding to the backlash over her deleted posts. Whether she stands by the sentiments or disavows them remains an open question heading into Tuesday's primary. Voters in the 13th District, which covers parts of northern Manhattan and the West Bronx, will decide whether those posts matter.

Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and the Congressional Black Caucus have rallied behind Espaillat, rejecting Mamdani's preferred candidate. That alignment tells you something about how far outside the mainstream even some Democrats consider this endorsement to be.

The accountability gap

There is a familiar pattern in progressive politics: say something incendiary, delete it when it becomes inconvenient, and count on allies to wave it away as old news. The cycle depends on a political class willing to look past conduct that would disqualify candidates in almost any other context. Mamdani is not just looking past it. He is actively rewarding it.

It is worth asking what standard, if any, would cause Mamdani to withdraw an endorsement. If wiping your hand on the flag, declaring hatred for the country, accusing veterans of war crimes, and suggesting the U.S. is worse than Hamas do not clear that bar, what would? The mayor has not answered that question. He has not been pressed to.

The pattern is not unique to New York. Progressive politicians across the country have shown a remarkable capacity to ignore contradictions between their candidates' stated values and their actual records. What makes Mamdani's case notable is the brazenness. He is not hedging. He is not distancing. He is standing at the Met, microphones in his face, calling it perfection.

Tuesday's primaries will test whether Democratic voters in three New York districts share the mayor's enthusiasm for candidates who operate at the far edge of the party. The results will say something about where the Democratic Party's base actually is, and whether the DSA's brand of politics can win outside of activist circles.

But whatever happens at the ballot box, the mayor's endorsement is already on the record. Zohran Mamdani looked at a candidate who posted about hating this country, wiping her hand on the flag, and trashing the people who defend it, and he called her perfect.

When a mayor tells you what he values, believe him.