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Democratic socialist candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier won a shocking primary victory in New York, but veteran Democratic strategist James Carville is not celebrating.
The socialist backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who won Tuesday night’s primary election in New York’s 13th Congressional District, has made a career out of “community organizing,” and has a history of controversies, including having founded a group in college that called for the “total eradication of Western civilization.”
NewsNation interviewed Carville on Thursday for his response to multiple far-left candidates winning in New York. While he downplayed some of the panic as essentially being about three seats in New York, he nonetheless argued Avila Chevalier should not be associated with the Democratic Party.
“Two of ‘em I don’t think are even Democrats. This Chevalier lady, I don’t – they should not seat her in the caucus. Her views are totally against anything that any Democrats have. We believe in pluralism, she doesn’t believe in interracial dating,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a place in the party. I’m not, by the way, I’m not sure she wants to be a Democrat. Go do something else! Form your own party!”
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Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville suggested that far-left politicians like Darializa Avila Chevalier should start their own party and not run as Democrats. (Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Politicon)
NewsNation host Elizabeth Vargas noted that Avila Chevalier has called to abolish ICE and the police, stop all deportations, called veterans war criminals, and various other issues, asking, “Who is this person?”
“She is not a Democrat, okay?” Carville said. “That is pretty clear, and frankly, I think a lot of Democrats feel like I do. I don’t have any power, just an old washed-up consultant, but I wouldn’t seat her! This is not who we are! And we should just say, look, you’re duly elected, have your seat in Congress, but you would not be getting any committee assignments when the Democrats got the majority.”
He noted another commentator had observed that many politicians that hate the Democrats nonetheless run as part of their party.
“Why do you want to run as a Democrat?” he responded. “Start your own movement! If it’s such a powerful, sweeping movement that’s got more momentum everywhere, then go ahead, be at the head of it, don’t use the Democratic Party to advance it. We don’t have any interest in it.”
Vargas went on to note that there is a rising tide of antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment within the Democratic Party, asking Carville whether he agrees with Rep. Dan Goldman that this development represents a hazard to democracy itself.
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s victory in 2025 was already a major surprise for New Yorkers, followed by the primary victory of three candidates he backed less than a year later. (Angelina Katsanis/AP)
“It’s disgusting, OK? And you’ve got to be careful not to conflate two things,” he warned. “You can be hugely ‘anti-’ the policies of the government of Israel, which I would describe myself as one, but when you say ‘I don’t think Israel should exist,’ then I don’t have room for ya.”
“I have all the room in the world to criticize Israeli policies, to criticize the settlements — which I think are stupid and ignorant to start with, and they continue to be. You can criticize whether they reacted strategically to October the 7. That’s all fine. That’s all fine,” he said.
Where he draws the line, he said, is when a person is against the concept of Israel’s existence or is against Jewish people themselves as a group.
“You’ve got no place at my table, I can tell you that,” he said of such people. “But I think the smart political move is not to seat these people.”
When pressed on whether many left-wing people are representatives of the modern Democratic Party, Carville argued again that while they have the right to speak their mind, they should not identify themselves as Democrats.
“Just don’t invoke the name of the Democratic Party in doing that, because you’re really hurting the United States in the end,” he said.
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Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville said that while he may be critical of Israel’s government, he wants nothing to do with people who are against Israel’s existence or who dislike Jewish people as a group. ( Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for SCAD)
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Vargas juxtaposed Carville mentioning the more establishment Democratic agenda, as opposed to the far-left sentiments of “abolish everything and, you know, ‘free Palestine.’”
“Insane,” Carville said of those who espouse those ideals. “I’ve got no time for these people.”
Digital reached out to Avila Chevalier’s office and did not receive an immediate reply.
