Super PACs have spent millions boosting Adriano Espaillat and Darializa Avila Chevalier. Both candidates think that’s super hypocritical!

In the race to represent New York’s 13th Congressional District, Rep. Adriano Espaillat and his leading challenger Darializa Avila Chevalier have both criticized the super PAC spending benefitting their opponent. And neither has denounced the super PAC spending on their behalf, either. 

The topic of outside spending came up during a wide-ranging debate hosted by BronxNet in partnership with City & State, which was recorded Monday and will air Tuesday night.

Super PACs have already spent millions in the race, boosting and detracting both candidates. The majority of that spending – about $4.3 million – has benefited Espaillat so far, but Avila Chevalier has benefited from $845,000 in spending from the Justice Democrats PAC. She’s also benefited from $26,000 from Indivisible Action and $500,000 from the pro-Palestinian American Priorities PAC. 

Espaillat is getting huge outside assists from several super PACs including Latino Victory Fund, which supports Latino Democrats, Project 218, which is focused on taking back the House majority for Democrats, Bold America, which was founded by former Congressional Hispanic Caucus members, AFT Solidarity, which is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers union, and the CHC Bold PAC, which is affiliated with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and United for Progress, a super PAC affiliated with Democratic operative Charlie King. 

And there’s more to come. Progressive Unity Fund has already cut ads but they have not registered their spending with the Federal Elections Commission a week before the election. Additionally, the pro-Israel committee AIPAC has directed more than $145,000 in individual contributions directly to Espaillat’s campaign this cycle. On June 4, Espaillat received another influx of donations from people affiliated with AIPAC, as Dropsite reported.  

Asked by BronxNet’s Gary Axelbank whether they can “realistically ignore” the influence of PAC support and whether they support legislation to reign in PACs, both candidates said outside spending is a scourge. But neither directly urged outside spenders to stop spending on their behalf.

“I’ve said clearly: We need to abolish super PACs,” Avila Chevalier said. “I control my campaign and the money that my campaign receives. And I’m very proud to say I have not received a dime of corporate PAC money. I can’t control outside groups.” 

Espaillat pressed her on receiving “$1.5 million from a Texas millionaire,” likely a reference to the pro-Palestinian PAC American Priorities and one of its donors Hussein Mahrouq. That PAC has committed to spending $1 million to support Avila Chevalier, who, rather than addressing that, focused on a technicality. “The max contribution an individual can donate to a campaign is $3500,” she said, referring to limits on direct contributions. Super PACs do not have contributions limits as long as they do not directly coordinate with campaigns. 

The super PAC Avila Chevalier’s campaign is most closely associated with is that of the Justice Democrats, the organization that handpicked her to challenge Espaillat. Justice Dems staffers are working on Avila Chevalier’s campaign, but the organization maintains an internal firewall between its PAC and campaign sides. In a statement, Avila Chevalier said she would sign onto legislation from Rep. Summer Lee and Sen. Bernie Sanders to abolish super PACs “on my first day in office.”

Espaillat, whose website includes a classic “red box” message to outside spenders explaining how, exactly, they can help, said he was the only candidate in the race who had been endorsed by End Citizens United. “We should have campaign finance reform. My decisions are based squarely on the interests of the people I represent,” Espaillat said. “We must end money in politics, and Citizens United is a bad vehicle for politics.” (Avila Chevalier’s website includes a “Facts About This Race” page with negative talking points about Espaillat, but no b-roll or specific instructions for voter messaging.)

In part to counter the influence of money in elections, BronxNet made a point of inviting all four Democratic primary candidates to the debate, including Oscar Romero and Theo Chino-Tavarez.

“Candidates cannot control the money that super PACs spend on them, but they can disavow them,” Romero said. “And we cannot be running on platforms that say we should end super PACs, but then look the other side whenever they spend money on us. We must disavow super PACs.”

The debate will air on BronxNet at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday and can be watched online.