By Ryan Schwach
Somebody has to win the race for Queens’ 23rd Assembly District.
That would be obvious, if not for the election records of the three men vying to replace retiring Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato in the Rockaway peninsula-centered seat.
The three candidates gunning for the job, longtime Democratic staffer Pesach Osina, attorney Mike Scala and Army veteran Republican Thomas Sullivan, have all run for public office before, but the trio has come up short each time.
Combined, the candidates have run 12 campaigns in the last decade, with zero wins between them.
That record will soon change. Osina and Scala are currently facing off in the Democratic primary race and Sullivan has qualified to run in November’s general election. Regardless of who wins the Democratic primary, both candidates will appear on the November ballot after Scala and Osina each secured third-party ballot lines.
“Someone has to win this,” Scala told the Eagle.
Scala, like his primary opponent and the Republican waiting in the wings for the general election, thinks it’s his turn for victory.
As an attorney, Scala has represented clients involved in a number of local issues.
He is the lead counsel for QueensLink, a group trying to bring a longshot subway connection to Southeast Queens. He also represented community members in an effort to stop a homeless shelter from opening near local schools.
Last year, he was named chairman of Queens Defenders’ board of directors as the public defense organization dealt with the fallout from its former executive director’s arrest and criminal conviction.
The attorney is running this campaign as an insurgent, against Osina and the Democratic Party.
“We are running an outsider race,” he said. “I think when people know what’s going on, they’re much more likely to support the outsider, insurgent campaign, because people are not happy with party leadership right now.”
Scala has run four times before.
His most recent attempt was in 2021, when he ran for City Council District 32. He finished second in a ranked-choice Democratic primary against progressive Felicia Singh. Singh went on to lose to now-Councilmember Joann Ariola, a Republican, in the general election.
Scala was the Democratic nominee for the same district in 2017, but lost to Republican Councilmember Eric Ulrich that year. He has also run for Congress against Representative Gregory Meeks.
His Democratic primary opponent has made a similar number of attempts at public office.
Osina, in 2021, came about 1,200 votes shy of beating now-Councilmember Selvena Brooks-Powers in a special election for City Council District 31.
He also finished second in a special election in 2013 for the same City Council seat, losing to Donovan Richards, who served in the seat until being elected borough president.
But the 2026 bid is the best shot Osina has had yet at winning.
He has significantly outraised Scala and currently far surpasses the attorney in local and institutional support.