Happy Wednesday in New York City, where young politicians are having to contend with their old tweets.

Darializa Avila Chevalier, a 32-year-old running for Congress in NY–13, squared off against incumbent Adriano Espaillat yesterday for their third televised debate. During a period in which the candidates were given a chance to address each other directly, Espaillat questioned Chevalier about a past tweet in which she’d written “[F––] Kamala Harris.”

“For the first time, we would have an African American woman in the White House, and you proceeded to irresponsibly tweet disparaging things about her,” Espaillat said. “Will you publicly now apologize to Kamala Harris?”

“Yes. To Vice President Kamala Harris, I sincerely apologize,” Chevalier said to the camera. “You did not deserve that language from me.”

Espiallat has made Chevalier’s past social media posts a core attack line in his campaign, pressing her to answer for the kind of online rhetoric that once read as conventional left-wing fury, including posts in which she called veterans “war criminals” and Joe Biden a “rapist.”

Last month, Chi Ossé, the 28-year-old councilmember for the 36th District, found himself in a similar quandary when he was called out on X for a 2021 post in which he wrote, “A cis white man should not be the next speaker of the Council.” Five years later, Ossé acknowledged that he would not use the same language anymore. “Woke 1 was crazyyyy,” Ossé responded on X, referring to the social movement of acute moral reckoning among progressives.

Zohran Mamdani also faced scrutiny during his campaign for mayor over past online statements advocating for defunding the NYPD and calling the agency “racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety.” He eventually apologized publicly on Fox News.

“I’ll apologize to police officers right here,” Mamdani said. “In 2020, the year all of these tweets are referring to, it was the year George Floyd was killed and it felt like safety and justice had never been further apart.”

After a wave in which young progressives exerted tremendous pressure on older stalwarts over their past statements, it seems the tide is turning. In the world of online politics, yesterday’s righteousness becomes tomorrow’s liability in the blink of an eye.

Less than 12 hours after taking to the streets in celebration of the Knicks’ championship victory, Brooklynites were back for another competition. 

The starting lineup looked a little different on Sunday as four-legged contenders made their entrance on Montague Street for the Brooklyn Heights Association’s annual dog show.

Now in its third year since returning from a decade-long hiatus, the event raises money for PAWS NY, a nonprofit that helps under-resourced New Yorkers care for their pets.

The show drew nearly 75 canine contestants. Dogs of all ages and breeds competed in categories ranging from “Best Ol’ Pal,” which honored longtime neighborhood companions who have spent more than a decade strolling down the promenade, to “Cutest New Resident,” reserved for dogs under one year old making their debut in society.

Read on to learn more.

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