Congress

The Dems already had AOC. Now they have DAC.

Published

4 months ago

June 25, 2026

NEW YORK — After thrashing incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, Darializa Avila Chevalier is poised to become Republicans’ next priority punching bag.

Also known as DAC, Avila Chevalier has said she’s skeptical of deportation, borders and prisons, tweeted about using the American flag as a napkin, and expressed sympathy for Russia during its invasion of Ukraine. Those public remarks, and many more, already have GOP politicians and operatives in full-on attack mode. They have also left some Democrats worried that Republicans have found a potent new foil for the midterms.

The path she’s taking bears an uncanny resemblance to another democratic socialist firebrand who’s moderated her rhetoric and positions substantially since ascending to Congress eight years ago.

Like DAC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez unseated another long-term incumbent to get to the House — and also instantly became a boogeyman for the right.

But as Ocasio-Cortez continues to moderate with an eye toward the mainstream, Avila Chevalier is storming onto the national political scene with a similar anti-establishment bent — and a very different dogma. And Republicans are trying to make her and her future democratic socialist colleagues a tool in their arsenal to defend the House this year.

“This is a very real problem in which the Democratic Party has been taken over by socialists,” said Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who represents a suburban New York House seat that’s one of the most vulnerable in the country. “This is not something they’re going to be able to just run and hide from.”

Avila Chevalier, a doctoral student in sociology, helped organize the 2024 pro-Palestinian encampment at Columbia University that sent the campus into chaos and provided a national platform for the left’s discontent over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

On the trail, Avila Chevalier said her old tweets don’t represent her current views and that she’s focused on lowering the cost of living in her district, shifting the focus to “babies, not bombs.”

Her past comments, though, have made some in the Democratic Party uneasy, despite her apologies and assertions she’s changed (she also affirmed during the campaign that she still believes all deportations are wrong, including of undocumented immigrants convicted of serious crimes like murder and rape). And while there are parallels to Ocasio-Cortez in terms of their shared rise to prominence, many view the newcomer as a few steps farther left than the four-term incumbent, who’s frequently floated as a contender for senator and president.

Liam Kerr, co-founder of centrist Democratic group WelcomePAC, told Blue Light News that Ocasio-Cortez and Avila Chevalier are both products of a broader wave of insurgent Democrats that has risen since the election of President Donald Trump.

“If AOC was this Tea Party’s Ted Cruz, yes, DAC is this Tea Party’s MTG,” he said, referring to former Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. “It’s less substance and more about a sense that this person is unhinged and indefensible.”

Ocasio-Cortez’s team declined to comment for this article. In a social media post, Ocasio-Cortez congratulated the congressional primary winners, writing that she looks “forward to working together as a delegation as we fight for working families across New York.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks with reporters outside the U.S. Capitol on June 9, 2026.

In a statement, Avila Chevalier’s campaign manager Ilona Duverge said: “We didn’t just run a campaign for better leadership in this district. We reminded people what the Democratic Party could be. After 2024, the lesson is simple: listen to your base. Working people don’t want scapegoats. They want a party that actually fights for them.”

In the waning days of the campaign, City & State dubbed Avila Chevalier “like AOC, but to the left.” When asked in a recent interview what her reaction was when she saw that, she downplayed the comparison.

“I think my reaction has been the same to all the comparisons I have gotten to anyone in political office right now,” she said. “Early on it was like, ‘Oh, are you going to be the next Zohran Mamdani?’ And I was like, ‘I’m going to be the Darializa Avila Chevalier.’ That is who I have always been. And that’s who I will be.”

Beyond Avila Chevalier, at least eight state legislative candidates backed by either the Democratic Socialists of America or New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani won in New York on Tuesday night.

Aber Kawas, a Queens community organizer who won one of those seats, is now facing renewed scrutiny for saying the long-term effects of capitalism, racism and white supremacy and Islamophobia resulted in the 9/11 attacks.

In another House Democratic primary in the city — for retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez’s seat — Mamdani’s longtime DSA ally, Assemblymember Claire Valdez, won in a blowout against Velázquez’s handpicked successor, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. Reynoso is the former co-chair of the city Council’s progressive caucus, but he never joined the city’s DSA chapter, the political home of Valdez and Mamdani.

“Democrats have a Bolshevik revolution going on in their primaries,” Rep. Richard Hudson, the chair of the House Republicans’ campaign arm, told fellow Republicans in a closed-door House GOP meeting Wednesday, according to three people in the room, granted anonymity to discuss the event.

House Speaker Mike Johnson also said the “radical” wins Tuesday night should spur GOP lawmakers to dig in their heels and fundraise.

The ascent of Avila Chevalier and her socialist colleagues also planted the seeds for more Democratic establishment displacement. The co-leader of the city’s DSA chapter, for instance, expressed regret for not supporting a primary of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

When asked by a reporter Wednesday if he’s worried about a primary challenge in 2028 from a Mamdani-endorsed candidate, Jeffries replied: “When you ask me a serious question, I’ll give you a serious answer.”

The left’s rise also means the once-extreme Ocasio-Cortez is now on the ideological periphery of a new insurgent wave as she appears to position herself for higher office.

Ocasio-Cortez did not endorse in either Valdez or Avila Chevalier’s races. Speaking to reporters at the Capitol on Wednesday, she said her focus was on the 14 down-ballot candidates she did support: “I think I’m going to take a beat and really enjoy their success, and we’ll see what happens from there.”

Mamdani, the DSA and the left-leaning group Justice Democrats took on major roles to boost Avila Chevalier and Valdez. Mamdani’s move against Espaillat, as well as Velázquez’s successor of choice, upset Democratic power brokers.

Asked by Blue Light News on Tuesday if he believes rank-and-file DSA members are angry with Ocasio-Cortez for not endorsing in those two congressional primaries, Mamdani replied, “I think that AOC is somebody that has inspired so many across our city and our country in the fight for working people, and I think she continues to do so, and I think we’ll see that in the results.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani at the Get Out The Vote rally on June 18, 2026, with his endorsed congressional candidates.

The mayor also expressed doubt that Avila Chevalier will morph into an effective boogeyman for Republicans in swing districts.

“We’ve heard from Republicans time and again that they are going to try and make these candidates the face of the Democratic Party,” Mamdani said Wednesday morning. “To them, I say that we are ready for that because for far too long we’ve been told that it’s not possible to fight for working people and win. These candidates have shown that they can. Let the Republicans talk about that more.”

A political consultant close to senior congressional Democrats agreed that such attacks won’t work in the current economic climate.

“In normal times, we should be concerned about attacks like that. In normal times, that probably would work,” said the consultant, who was granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. “But when the economy is this bad, it’s not going to work … [The GOP’s] best bet is to try to distract and focus on a random local candidate like Darializa, but the reality is that there’s a litany of horrific things that Republicans have done under this president and that’s what voters are going to care about.”

Andrew Bard Epstein, a top adviser to both Valdez and Mamdani, felt the same way — and then took a shot at Lawler, who faces a challenge in November from Army veteran Cait Conley.

“I don’t live in the 17th District, but I would think voters there care about costs of living and stopping chaos in the world,” Epstein said, referring to Lawler’s district. “Mike Lawler has just cosigned a disastrous war with Iran, which has raised prices and destabilized the world and has left both Iranian civilians and U.S. service members dead. They are the extremists.”

Still, some moderate Democrats are concerned. Matt Bennett, co-founder of centrist group Third Way, said he’s worried Avila Chevalier will become a “lightning rod” in the way Republicans like Greene and Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert did.

“She can live all day on cable news if she feels like it, and will have a huge social media following, and everything she does will be amplified by Republicans,” he said. “There’s a real risk of her becoming a national figure, even though she will have no impact whatsoever on actual legislating.”

Meredith Lee Hill and Ali Bianco contributed to this report.

Congress

NRSC takes on $20M in loans

Published

5 hours ago

October 20, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Republicans’ campaign arm took out $20 million in loans in September, a significant cash infusion as the party looks to fight an increasingly challenging map ahead of November’s midterm elections.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee incurred a $17 million loan on Sep. 1 and another $3 million on Sep. 22, according to a filing submitted to the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday.

The need for cash comes after months of the NRSC and other GOP groups boasting about their large cash advantage over Democrats, as the party floods the airwaves in an effort to win core battlegrounds in an unfavorable environment.

The organization framed the loan as part of continuing that cash advantage.

“The NRSC has raised record-breaking resources, consistently maintained one of the lowest burn rates across all committees, and furthered the efficacy of every dollar by immediately acting on the fall of unlimited coordinated spending with our candidates,” NRSC communications director Joanna Rodriguez said in a statement. “We’re going to throw everything we can at protecting our Republican Senate Majority, and we’re going to win.”

It’s not unusual for campaign arms to take out loans late in an election cycle. In 2024, the NRSC took out $17 million in loans, and it borrowed $20 million during the 2022 cycle as well, according to FEC reports.

The NRSC has raised $228 million this cycle compared to $188 million for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, but Democratic Senate candidates have far outraised Republican ones.

The NRSC had $28 million in the bank, including the loan, at the end of September after raising $31 million and spending $41 million in the month, although a slight majority of the funds raised — $18 million — came via transfers from the Republican National Committee.

The DSCC, by comparison, ended September with just under $25 million in the bank. It had not taken out any loans this cycle as of that point.

Unlike past cycles, political parties can now more freely pay for advertising in coordination with candidates — and at a much cheaper rate. That will allow the party to stretch the $20 million further than in past election cycles.

In September, the NRSC put just under $34 million into coordinated spending, all of it on advertising, according to the Tuesday FEC filing.

Congress

Senate Democrats start spending in Mississippi

Published

11 hours ago

October 20, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Democrats’ money machine is on its way to Mississippi.

Senate Majority PAC is putting an initial $1.2 million on television statewide through Election Day to boost Scott Colom, the group announced Tuesday — another plunge into deep-red territory for Democrats as they take advantage of a dismal environment for Republicans.

Colom, a local prosecutor, has gained on GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in recent public polling, and has started to gain the attention of national Democrats. Some Senators, including Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock and Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, have pushed for more party investment in the race, which they believe in the right environment could flip a traditionally red seat.

But until now, Democrats said their resources were stretched too thin across a widening map that would allow them to play in the Magnolia State.

SMP is launching its first ad Wednesday attacking Hyde-Smith as a “do-nothing” senator and is planning a digital program as well. Lauren French, a spokesperson for SMP, said in a statement that “it is clear Colom is running a competitive race that has put Hyde-Smith on her heels.”

Hyde-Smith’s campaign downplayed the race’s competitiveness while tying Colom to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

“It took Chuck Schumer and his Super PACs thirteen months to run a single ad for Scott Colom,” Hyde-Smith campaign spokesperson Nathan Calvert said in a statement. “Chuck knows what Mississippians know, Scott Colom is too liberal, supports transgender surgeries for children, men in women’s restrooms and locker rooms, open borders, and higher taxes. Team Cindy is confident that voters will reject this radical agenda at the ballot box on November 3rd.”

Colom’s campaign didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

Other national Democrats have started paying attention to the race too, with several set to descend on Mississippi ahead of Election Day. Former Vice President Kamala Harris will campaign alongside Colom later this week, and former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg will hit the trail next week.

The state has the highest proportion of Black people in the nation, giving Democrats a high base of support in most elections — and has long left Democrats dreaming they could win statewide, having invested some resources in recent Senate and governor’s races over the past decade. Hyde-Smith did not top 55% of the vote in either of her previous elections, and Colom has seized on an interview clip when she was asked about the high price of beef: “You know, you have so many proteins to choose from.”.

Still, despite the overall positive environment for the party, flipping the seat remains a steep uphill battle. Republicans control all levers of state government, and Trump handily won by 24 points in 2024. The last time Mississippians elected a Democrat statewide was 2015, and the last time the state sent a Democrat to the Senate was 1982.

SMP’s investment in Mississippi follows multimillion-dollar dives into Kansas and Texas that collectively show how far the Senate map has shifted onto red turf in the midterm’s closing weeks. The Chuck Schumer-aligned group has also cut back on spending on television in North Carolina and Georgia in recent weeks amid increasingly bullish outlooks for Democrats Roy Cooper and Sen. Jon Ossoff, respectively.

Congress

DCCC launches ads against Mike Turner in red Ohio district

Published

19 hours ago

October 20, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Democrats’ campaign arm is launching its first ad buy against seven-term GOP Rep. Mike Turner in his western Ohio district as they seek to turn up the pressure on Republicans in once-safe red seats.

The DCCC is dropping separate six-figure buys on two coordinated television ads boosting challenger Kristina Knickerbocker, spokesperson Riya Vashi said — a remarkable investment considering Turner won in 2024 by over 18 percentage points, overperforming President Donald Trump.

Ohio adopted a new redistricted congressional map last year that was expected to favor Republicans. Turner’s 10th District voted for Trump by 6 points in 2024; under the new lines it would have been closer to 8 points.

The first ad airing this week opens with a woman saying, “It’s time we had someone in Congress who actually stands up for us” as Knickerbocker jogs through a neighborhood.

Democrats are eyeing Turner’s Dayton-area seat as a reach opportunity. A new internal DCCC poll of 535 likely general election voters reviewed by Blue Light News shows Knickerbocker running three percentage points ahead of Turner. Polling from this summer showed Turner leading the race.

Another Democratic group, House Majority PAC, has already poured more than a million dollars into the race against Turner and has reservations planned through Nov. 3. Knickerbocker is not on the DCCC’s “Red to Blue” roster of candidates who get the bulk of its resources.

“Alarm bells should be ringing for Mike Turner,” Vashi said in a statement. “Kristina Knickerbocker has the momentum in this race, and the DCCC will make sure every voter in this district knows exactly how Turner has betrayed them.”

But the NRCC has been spending in the district for several weeks to boost Turner. House Republican campaign operatives are so far dismissing efforts to flip the seat.

NRCC spokesperson Zach Bannon called Turner “a life-long Ohioan who has a record of cutting taxes, lowering costs, and making Ohio streets safer.”

“While Congressman Turner delivers commonsense conservative wins, out of touch Democrat Kristina Knickerbocker supports a radical far-left agenda,” Bannon said. “This November, Ohioans will reject liberal Knickerbocker and send Congressman Mike Turner back to Congress.”