January 16, 2026
CBC chair Rep. Gregory Meeks said “Espaillat reflects the kind of leadership that our caucus and its members have long championed” after years of the two working together.
The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is switching things up by endorsing Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) over his primary challenger, Darializa Avila Chevalier, years after the group rejected the congressman’s push to join, Politico reports.
In a statement, CBC Chair Rep. Gregory Meeks said, “Espaillat reflects the kind of leadership that our caucus and its members have long championed,” over 32-year-old Avila Chevalier, known as a pro-Palestine organizer who led the Columbia University protest encampment in 2024. “At a time when working families are being priced out of neighborhoods they’ve called home for generations, Adriano has been on the front lines of the fight to make New York City more affordable,” the statement continues.
“That commitment is rooted in lived experience, moral clarity, and a deep commitment to economic justice and civil rights.”
However, the endorsement may come as a surprise given the rocky relationship between Espaillat, the first Dominican American and first formerly undocumented immigrant to serve in Congress, and the CBC. Before his 2017 election, he annoyed members of the group in 2012 and 2014 amid failed efforts to unseat the late Rep. Charles Rangel, a CBC founding member.
After the late congressman’s retirement, he ran for the seat again, sparking an endorsement for then-state Assemblymember Keith Wright, whom Rangel once handpicked as his successor. But then Wright lost to Espaillat. Once elected, Espaillat unsuccessfully tried to join the CBC while also serving in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
During his campaign, he identified as an Afro-Latino, but that didn’t stop the group from denying his request. Former CBC chair Karen Bass said in 2020 that there was more to the story than his ethnic background.
“It was a specific conflict, and I’m not going to talk about it,” Bass said, leaving this issue as a mystery.
However, it seems as if bygones are bygones with Espaillat graciously accepting the endorsement. “I am deeply honored to receive the endorsement of the Congressional Black Caucus PAC. “The CBC has long stood at the forefront of the fight for economic opportunity and social justice for Black and other marginalized communities,” the congressman representing New York’s 13th District, consisting of Upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx, said.
“As the first formerly undocumented person to serve in Congress, this endorsement carries special meaning for me.”
But is the endorsement enough to reach voters?
Avila Chevalier, also of Afro-Latina descent, says Espaillat is out of touch with the constituents he represents, who are struggling to make ends meet, and bashed him for accepting campaign donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a group that pushes for a partnership between the U.S. and Israel, and the real estate industry.
“Why should we let Adriano Espaillat vote to spend billions on bombs overseas, when we’re struggling to afford rent and groceries right here in New York City,” the contender said in her campaign launch video, according to AMNY.
Labeled as a moderate Democrat, Espaillat is the fourth New York Democratic incumbent member of Congress to receive challenges from those deemed as progressive in light of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s historic win. Challengers are coming for the spots held by Reps. Ritchie Torres, Dan Goldman, and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Let the midterm games begin.
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