Democratic congressional nominee Darializa Avila Chevalier had a now-deleted Twitter account that expressed support for communism and Marxist ideology. The posts on the account also expressed sympathy for Soviet figures, including Vladimir Lenin and former Black Liberation Army member Assata Shakur. 

Avila Chevalier, a sociology PhD student, had a surprise win against longtime Rep. Adriano Espaillat in Tuesday’s primary, and she's been endorsed by New York City's socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani. 

The deleted “Darializabonet” account from 2020-2022, according to CNN, contained statements about seizing the means of production, calls to abolish police and prisons, and claims that Black and Arab men are “fetishizing ugly colonizer women." In another post, she described wiping her hands on the American flag instead of a napkin. 

Other posts on the account recommended Karl Marx's Capital as an "essential must-read," and in another post, she complained that public libraries didn't have enough literature from Lenin. 

Avila Chevalier told CNN previously that she had "grown considerably in the years" since she made those posts, and now she's "focused on our community and our community's future."