New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino said Wednesday that Darializa Avila Chevalier, the democratic socialist who just won the state’s congressional primary, would not be eligible to be seated in the House under the oath of office she would have to take.
Ms. Paladino, a Republican, replied to a post on X that detailed the “use of violence in America” as political action, stating that the Columbia University Apartheid Divest movement, with which Ms. Avila Chevalier has associated, would disqualify her from serving in the House.
An anti-Israel activist at Columbia between 2012 and 2016, Ms. Avila Chevalier worked with the now-suspended group Students for Justice in Palestine and helped launch the movement later known as CUAD to divest from Israel, she told the Democratic Socialists of America.
CUAD is a coalition of 80-plus student groups behind the 2024 pro-Gaza encampment.
“This is grounds to not seat her. The oath of office is not some boilerplate formality. It’s a legally binding component of our government, designed specifically to prevent people like Chevalier from holding office in America,” Ms. Paladino said on X.
“The GOP majority must make it clear that individuals who cannot uphold their oath in good faith will not be seated. And helping to found a group whose stated mission is to ’eradicate America’ is the most plain and obvious conflict with the oath you could possibly imagine. We need to fight the DSA with every tool available.”
She added, “EVERY tool. Because make no mistake — they’ll put us all up against the wall as soon as they have the chance.”
The Washington Times reached out to Ms. Avila Chevalier for comment.
In November 2023, the university suspended its Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, but groups such as Columbia Social Workers for Palestine and Columbia University Apartheid Divest have picked up where the SJP left off.
The campus organizations held a walkout and protest at the time to advance a host of demands, including divesting from Israel and lifting the suspensions of two student activists.
“There will be no school as usual as long as Columbia funds genocide,” said the CUAD on Instagram.
In a Jan. 17, 2025, report, the pro-Israel watchdog group Canary Mission called Columbia a “national model” for anti-Israel activism, crediting the SJP chapter for “orchestrating campus protests and normalizing Hamas’ antisemitic and violent rhetoric and imagery.”
The report said Columbia allowed SJP “to rebrand as Columbia University Apartheid Divest,” which “proceeded to amp up SJP’s antisemitic rhetoric and violent intimidation tactics.”
“CUAD launched what would become the template for anti-Israel protests across the country: an encampment on university grounds to establish the ’Popular University of Gaza,’” said the report, titled “From Tehran to Columbia: Inside America’s Student Intifada.”
Ms. Avila Chevalier defeated Democratic incumbent Adriano Espaillat on Tuesday following a tough primary in New York’s 13th Congressional District. The 32-year-old defeated Mr. Espaillat, 71, by less than 4% points after 88% of the vote was tallied in the Harlem, Washington Heights, and Bronx district.
