Tim Burchett Is Trying to Keep New York Socialist Chevalier Off the House Floor

A Democratic Socialist wiped her hands on the American flag and called the country a disgrace.

Now that socialist is on track to win a seat in the United States Congress.

Tim Burchett says he has a plan to make sure she never takes that oath.

The Candidate Zohran Mamdani Wants in Washington

Darializa Avila Chevalier just beat a five-term Democrat in a primary she was never supposed to win.

She took down Rep. Adriano Espaillat by more than 2,300 votes in New York's 13th Congressional District.

That district is so reliably Democratic that winning the primary is functionally winning the seat.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani endorsed her.

Barring a political earthquake, she is headed to Washington.

Before she was a candidate, Chevalier posted this about Old Glory: "I forgot to get napkins so I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me."

In another post she called this country "a f-ing disgrace."

Deleted tweets dug up by reporters also showed her praising communist leaders, Marxism, and language sympathetic to North Korea's regime.

Breitbart and CNN both found the same material once they went digging through her old account.

Chevalier has since said she regrets the posts and is "taking accountability."

She even apologized to Kamala Harris for language used in one of the tweets.

That apology did not stop Tim Burchett from announcing he intends to block her from being seated when the new Congress convenes.

He is citing the flag comment as disqualifying for someone about to swear an oath to defend the Constitution.

Congress Has Done This Before to a Socialist

Burchett is not inventing a new power.

The House of Representatives refused to seat an elected socialist once already, and it took two tries to make it stick.

Victor Berger, a Socialist Party congressman from Wisconsin, won his seat in 1918 while under federal indictment for opposing American involvement in World War One.

The House voted to exclude him in 1919.

Voters in his district sent him right back in a special election.

The House excluded him again.

Berger eventually won his seat back years later once his conviction was overturned, but the precedent stands.

The House has the constitutional authority to refuse to seat a member-elect under Article One, and it has used that power against exactly this kind of case.

Chevalier is not accused of a crime the way Berger was.

She is accused of treating the American flag like a paper towel and calling the nation it represents a disgrace.

Burchett and his allies argue a resurfaced apology does not erase what she actually said before she needed New York voters to like her.

A District That Keeps Choosing the Farthest Left Option

New York's 13th is not an outlier.

The city that already sent Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman to Congress just nominated Chevalier in a primary alongside a wave of other self-described socialists.

That wave swept multiple NYC-area Democratic primaries the same cycle, a result Washington Examiner writers flagged as a direct blow to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and the party's moderate wing.

The pattern is not subtle.

Manhattan Democrats keep handing their nominations to candidates who trash the flag on social media and flirt with an ideology that has killed millions of people wherever it has actually ruled.

Burchett's fight is not really about one tweet.

It is about whether the House lets a winning candidate's contempt for the country get rewarded with a seat inside the building where the laws of that country get written.

Sources:

• Geoff Earle, "Rep. Burchett Planning to Block NYC Socialist Chevalier From Congress After She Claimed to Use American Flag as Napkin," New York Post, October 3, 2026.
• Washington Examiner, "Mamdani-Endorsed Socialist Darializa Chevalier Previously Posted About Using US Flag as Napkin," Washington Examiner, 2026.
• Todd Starnes, "NYC Dem Called USA 'F-ing Disgrace,' Wiped Dirty Hands on U.S. Flag," Todd Starnes, 2026.
• Breitbart, "Socialist Congressional Candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier Hyped Communism, Marxism on Social Media," Breitbart, June 29, 2026.
• Washington Examiner, "Socialists Sweep NYC Congressional Primaries," Washington Examiner, 2026.
• History, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives, "Representative Victor Berger of Wisconsin, the First Socialist Member of Congress," History, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives, 2026.