Editor’s Note: DAC déjà vu

In the final days of the heated primary race between Rep. Adriano Espaillat and Darializa Avila Chevalier, I kept feeling a sense of déjà vu. The media, the campaigns and the voters in the district were beginning to have a conversation about what it would mean to elect a Muslim representative, and the conversation was ugly.

An Espaillat surrogate – whom Espaillat distanced himself from – was talking in Spanish-language press about how Avila Chevalier and Mayor Zohran Mamdani were trying to replace the Dominican community with Haitians and Muslims. While campaigning in the district, Avila Chevalier was repeatedly followed by an aggressive heckler who yelled “Jew hater!”

This all felt familiar. The eleventh hour pivot to identity- and fear-based rhetoric echoed the final gasps of Andrew Cuomo’s mayoral campaign(s) last year. A super PAC supporting Cuomo edited a photo of Mamdani’s face to make his beard appear darker and thicker. In a radio interview, Cuomo seemed to agree that Mamdani would celebrate another 9/11. “New York can’t be Europe, folks,” then-Mayor Eric Adams said, standing with Cuomo. “I don’t know what is wrong with people, you see what’s playing out in other countries because of Islamic extremism.”

The narrative bled into media coverage too. Just as Avila Chevalier was repeatedly asked why she chose to attend a rally in support of Palestinians on Oct. 8, 2023, Mamdani was asked in nearly every interview whether he would condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada.”

Of course, neither Cuomo nor Espaillat was successful. Perhaps the pivot to divisive tactics is itself a symptom of a failing campaign, a canary in the coal mine for a coming insurgent victory.