Darializa Avila Chevalier isn't in Congress yet, but Washington is already trying to figure out what to do with her. A detailed CNN profile published Monday lays out the strategy of the 32-year-old democratic socialist who is on a glide path to the House this January — and who party insiders privately worry could become one of the most disruptive freshmen in decades.

Avila Chevalier, a Columbia-trained sociologist and doctoral candidate, stunned New York's political establishment in June when she defeated Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the 12-term incumbent and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, in the Democratic primary for New York's 13th Congressional District, which covers Harlem, Inwood and parts of the Bronx. She won 49.4% of the vote to Espaillat's 45.9%, according to the Associated Press count, riding endorsements from New York City's Democratic Socialists of America chapter and Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The district is heavily Democratic, and she is heavily favored over Republican nominee Manuel "Jomo" Williams in the November 3 general election.

Her platform leans hard into DSA orthodoxy: housing described as a right rather than a market good, a call to abolish ICE, and a foreign-policy line she's branded "babies not bombs" — shorthand for cutting U.S. military assistance tied to Israel's war in Gaza. She has told supporters she'll co-sponsor 13 bills on her first day in office, including measures on Medicare for All and restricting arms transfers.

The rollout hasn't been friction-free. Avila Chevalier faced scrutiny during the primary over old posts from a deleted social media account criticizing party leaders, and over her attendance at an October 8, 2023 rally following Hamas's attack on Israel, where speakers used rhetoric she later distanced herself from. Asked about the old posts, she told CNN: "We are the first generation to really be forming our sense of self... online... which inevitably means we're going to say things we'll eventually not agree with."

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries has publicly rejected the DSA's broader agenda even while acknowledging he'll need to manage what he's called a "broad caucus" if Democrats retake the majority in November — a dynamic several Democratic strategists have compared to leadership's uneasy early relationship with the original 2018 "Squad." Progressive allies, meanwhile, are pushing leadership not to freeze her out, arguing that punishing her would only harden the same insurgent lane that has now knocked off multiple sitting Democrats this cycle. Avila Chevalier's win follows a similar jolt earlier this cycle when Florida's Angie Nixon knocked off ex-impeachment witness Alex Vindman in a Senate primary, part of a wider pattern of DSA-aligned challengers unseating established Democratic figures this cycle.

"OUR MOVEMENT HAS WORKED TOO HARD FOR ME TO ALLOW MYSELF TO BE DISTRACTED... I WANT TO MEANINGFULLY BUILD A MODEL OF CO-GOVERNANCE THAT GIVES POWER BACK TO WORKING PEOPLE."

She insists she isn't interested in being purely an activist backbencher. "I am very concerned with delivering," she said, adding that she hopes colleagues "will hopefully be pleasantly surprised that yes, I am really willing to talk to anybody."

That claim is about to be tested at scale. Avila Chevalier is one of at least five DSA-aligned nominees on track to join the House next year, and if Democrats win back the chamber by a narrow margin, that bloc could hold outsized leverage over leadership elections, committee assignments and floor votes — turning a single freshman from Upper Manhattan into a potential kingmaker, or headache, for whoever runs the Democratic caucus come January.