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Bill Maher tore into Darializa Avila Chevalier — the socialist backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — on Friday after Chevalier won the Democratic primary for New York’s 13th Congressional District and drew scrutiny for her answers on prisons, deportation and past anti-American posts on social media.
Maher opened “Real Time with Bill Maher” with a monologue about Avila Chevalier’s refusal to directly say whether a convicted murderer should be incarcerated during a New York Editorial Board interview.
“The New York Times asked her, ‘If someone murders someone randomly, should they go to jail?’ Couldn’t get her to say yes for that,” Maher said. “So, there is a woke mind virus, and I think we found patient zero. Her name is Darializa Avila Chevalier.”
MAMDANI-BACKED SOCIALIST WITH HISTORY OF ANTI-AMERICAN RHETORIC WINS VICIOUS DEM PRIMARY RACE
Congressional candidate Claire Valdez, Congressional candidate Brad Lander, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier raise their hands during a Get Out the Vote (GOTV) rally at King’s Theater on June 18, 2026, in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Avila Chevalier, 32, defeated Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, in Tuesday’s primary. Chevalier led with 49.4% to Espaillat’s 45.9%.
Maher also cited past statements about the United States and her reported plan to kneel during the congressional oath.
“She also says that the United States, the country she’s running to be a part of, is occupied native land, and says this country, America, is a f—ing disgrace,” Maher said. “During the oath of office, she’s going to take a knee.”
Congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier speaks during a Get Out the Vote rally at King’s Theater in New York City on June 18, 2026. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Mayor Zohran Mamdani campaigned alongside her and other candidates ahead of the Democratic primary and early voting. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
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The New York Editorial Board pressed Chevalier multiple times about how a murderer should be treated under her abolitionist views. She said incarceration remains what happens in the current system but did not directly endorse it.
“The fact that the murder happened is tragic. The fact that there was a circumstance in which that could even come to pass is tragic, and all of that is a reflection of systems that allowed that circumstance to be possible,” Avila Chevalier said.
Chevalier also told the board she opposed deportations in all circumstances.
Darializa Avila Chevalier, U.S. Democratic House candidate for New York, speaks at a Get Out The Vote rally at Kings Theater in Brooklyn, New York, on June 18, 2026, ahead of the state’s primary election on June 23. (Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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“I am not OK with any deportation,” she said. “I think all deportation is wrong because I think it is an incredibly cruel punishment that is really only relegated to people on the basis of where they were born.”
Her campaign platform includes, “Abolish ICE,” Medicare for All, Housing for All and a “Babies, not Bombs” agenda. Her website says she would “fight to abolish the deportation machine” and “divest” money spent on wars abroad.
The New York Times has described Chevalier as a candidate who has “voiced support for abolishing the police, borders and prisons and seizing property from landlords.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to Darializa Avila Chevalier for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
