Mamdani’s top political strategist, Morris Katz, was caught on tape escorting Chevalier into what appears to be one of the mayor’s official vehicles
A New York City councilman has filed an ethics complaint against Mayor Zohran Mamdani for giving socialist House candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier one of his official vehicles as well as NYPD security to make campaign stops on the eve of Tuesday’s Democratic primary vote.
Phil Wong (D.), who represents a district in Queens, asked the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board to investigate whether Mamdani authorized mayoral office vehicles and NYPD officers to pick up Chevalier and her entourage after a campaign stop on Monday.
Wong cited footage that showed Chevalier entering an SUV believed to be part of Mamdani’s mayoral security detail. Video showed Mamdani’s top political strategist, Morris Katz, who’s also advising Chevalier, accompanying Chevalier out of the back door of an event into an unmarked, black SUV, with an earpiece-wearing bodyguard standing by.
@SamAntar why is @ZohranKMamdani allowing his endorsed candidate to use a @NYPDnews @NYCMayorsOffice @NYCMayor @nycgov car. Is that legal? They snuck out the back after their photo op event because of myself and Raul. 6/22/26. @enforcelawsNYC @EricsRambles @ImMeme0 @david_sivella pic.twitter.com/7ZnMOraaAK
— Christopher Leon Johnson(Leon Christopher Johnson) (@Chrislejohnyc) June 23, 2026
Mamdani has endorsed Chevalier, who served as a field organizer for his mayoral campaign, alongside a slate of far-left candidates running for House seats in New York City. Mamdani endorsed Chevalier, a fellow Democratic Socialists of America member, over the Democratic establishment’s candidate, incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat. The endorsement shook up city politics, pitting the Democratic Party’s far-left wing against a five-term incumbent backed by Latino groups, the Congressional Black Caucus, and Gov. Kathy Hochul (D., N.Y.). But Mamdani and Chevalier are both fiercely anti-Israel and also share far-left views on policing and public safety.
Broadway Democrats, a liberal advocacy group, declined to endorse Chevalier earlier this month after she refused to condemn Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack against Israel. That echoes Mamdani, who during his mayoral campaign last year declined to call on Hamas to disarm as part of peace negotiations with Israel.
“New Yorkers deserve confidence that City resources are being used solely for public purposes and not to advance the interests of favored candidates or political allies,” Wong wrote to the New York Conflicts of Interest Board.
Wong has accused Mamdani of misusing city resources before to support his political allies. On May 1, Mamdani filmed a campaign video at Gracie Mansion to support Claire Valdez, a socialist candidate for New York’s Seventh Congressional District.
“Taken together, those earlier incidents and the apparent use of mayoral NYPD resources to ferry Ms. Avila Chevalier between campaign stops suggests a troubling pattern of blurred lines between official City functions and campaign activity,” wrote Wong.
Mamdani’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
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