The Republican congressman from Tennessee, Tim Burchett, intends to stop Darializa Avila Chevalier from joining Congress should she emerge victorious in the Nov. 3 contest. His effort hinges on a single 2019 post in which Chevalier explained that she had rubbed her hand upon the American flag after failing to secure napkins.
Burchett is seeking to employ a bare majority to block newly elected representatives from taking their seats before swearing the oath of office when the next Congress meets in January. He pointed to Chevalier’s flag comment as an affront to his own family’s own military background as an example, noting that his father served as a World War II Marine, while his father’s brother served on a Navy destroyer. Burchett’s maternal uncle, Roy Hicks, was injured shortly after D-Day during combat against German forces in the hedgerows near Normandy.
Burchett still has his uncle’s Purple Heart and keeps the flag that covered Hicks’ coffin in his Knoxville congressional office. He flew with President Trump on Air Force One last week to Tennessee.
Chevalier’s Flag Tweet
A 2019 Twitter post from Chevalier, which has since been removed, contained the disputed remark. In it, she stated, “I forgot to get napkins so I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me.”. She subsequently expressed regret for having made the comment.
Burchett’s argument rests on a single tweet. In it, he claims that Chevalier disrespected the flag, which he says amounts to disrespecting the Constitution itself.
The Election That Put Her Here
In the primary for New York’s 13th Congressional District, which includes northern Manhattan and the western Bronx, Chevalier defeated Rep. Adriano Espaillat. She now moves on to face Republican Jomo M. Williams in the general election.
Several high-profile stints defined her path to this point. Chevalier was part of the 2024 campus takeover at Columbia University, and she served as a key player in an anti-Israel group that once said it was “fighting for the total eradication of Western civilization.” She also showed up at an anti-Israel rally the day after the Hamas Oct. 7 attack in Israel.
In an online post during the 2020 election, Chevalier called the US a “f—ing disgrace” and called President Joe Biden a “war criminal.” Chevalier’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Why Burchett Has His Uncle’s Flag
Burchett’s office holds a physical reminder of his uncle’s service. He keeps the flag that covered Hicks’ coffin in his Knoxville congressional office.
What matters here is the personal nature of Burchett’s argument. It is not an abstract case made for patriotism. Instead, he argues from his own family history, which includes a Purple Heart and a flag that once covered a fallen soldier’s coffin.
The Constitutional Question
The Constitution states that “Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own Members.” That means the House can decide for itself who sits and who does not.
There have been more than 600 contested elections in the nation’s history, but they haven’t been “truly meaningful” since the turn of the 20th century, according to Dr. Jeffery Jenkins, a political scientist at the University of Southern California Price School of Public Policy.
Jenkins said the last decade or so has made him wonder if there’s a “new normal” for what’s possible, including strategies the parties used a century ago. Contested elections “can muck up the legislative process and take time away from real governing,” Jenkins said.
The Precedent Against Exclusion
A similar case unfolded not long ago with Rep. Adam Clayton Powell (D-NY), who was kept out of Congress from his Harlem district in 1967. The Supreme Court later decided in 1969 that the House had gone beyond its power by keeping him out after he had been properly elected and met all the constitutional requirements for holding office.
Burchett’s campaign faces an uphill struggle because there are no election irregularities or constitutional qualifications issues to draw attention to. A GOP operative, John Feehery, who served as a former senior House leadership aide, said, “If we refused to seat folks in Congress who said things that we strongly disagreed with, nobody in the House would be seated.”
Burchett’s Record on the Squad
Burchett called AOC “my buddy” and has referred to her as a “friendly neighborhood Marxist.” That history complicates his position. If he can’t seat Chevalier, he risks looking inconsistent — he has defended one progressive lawmaker while trying to exclude another.
Burchett has spent years cultivating a public image as a friendly critic of the left, and he has made jokes about AOC along the way. Now he is deploying a procedural weapon against a candidate who occupies some of the same ideological ground. The sequence is telling.
The Attempt’s Weight
Exclusion stands on weak ground, and Burchett’s attempt to build a case rests upon it. The record of prior rulings works against him.
The effort itself holds significance. Burchett is conveying what he regards as proper conduct from those who hold office. He is also putting the House to the test to see if it will uphold a standard of reverence for national symbols.
A dispute over who holds a seat could slow down the work of the House, since contested elections take time, and lawmakers have more pressing business ahead.
What Happens Next
Williams will face Chevalier in the general election. Should she win, Burchett will have to determine whether he should proceed with his effort. The requirement for success is straightforward: a majority of the House.
There is no guarantee how things will turn out. Burchett holds the numbers to advance the argument, yet he must persuade his fellow legislators that Chevalier’s earlier remarks warrant the unusual measure of expelling a person chosen by voters for office.
Burchett has defended AOC and other progressive lawmakers against such attacks for years. The twist is that he now stands accused of the very thing he has long opposed: keeping people out.
According to the paper, Chevalier disdained both the flag and the Constitution with that tweet. Yet the Constitution grants each House complete authority over its own members.
The idea that people should be allowed to exist without interference is something to agree with. A rude remark is still a rude remark, though it does not take away from someone’s standing. If Chevalier wins, the House ought to let her sit down and do her job.
Burchett’s uncle’s Purple Heart and the flag that covered his coffin are powerful symbols. So is the American flag itself. Chevalier used that symbol carelessly, and she should have to answer for that.
The place to settle disputes is the ballot box, not inside the chamber. It would be wrong for the House to take on the role of judge over every careless remark made online.
Burchett has issued a warning rather than delivered a final strike. The rule that guides what follows is plain to see:
- Chevalier wins the general election.
- Burchett must decide whether to proceed with his effort.
- A majority of the House is required to succeed.
- The House should let her sit down and do her job.
Where the paper stands
The paper backs none of the two sides here, and instead backs the principle that newly elected representatives should take their seats without interference, letting the voters’ choice stand rather than weighing a single social-media post against a man’s right to serve. The Constitution gives each House full authority over its own members, and the House should exercise that authority by seating the duly elected rather than punishing speech. The paper is skeptical of attempts to use procedural weapons to settle personal disputes, and it finds no good reason to depart from the settled course.
Burchett’s effort rests on a single 2019 tweet and his own family’s military history. The paper respects both the Purple Heart his uncle earned and the flag that covered his coffin. But the paper also believes that the American flag should not become a tool for excluding a representative simply because voters chose her. A dispute over who holds a seat could slow the work of the House, and lawmakers have more pressing business ahead. The better path is to let the voters’ choice stand and leave the chamber free to do its work.
The reader should watch for any attempt to expand this precedent beyond a single tweet. One careless remark should not become grounds for exclusion, and the House should resist the temptation to treat it as such. The paper supports the deal over the standoff, and it supports the House’s authority over its own members — so long as that authority is not used to punish a candidate for winning.
Source material: “Rep. Burchett planning to block NYC socialist Chevalier from Congress after she claimed to use American flag as napkin,” the New York Post.
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