Chuck Park, who is running against U.S. Rep. Grace Meng in the Queens Congressional District 6 Democratic primary this June, received the endorsement of Sunrise NYC, a youth-led climate organization advocating for the Green New Deal.
Sunrise NYC — the New York chapter of the national Sunrise Movement — champions an agenda aimed at ending the climate crisis, creating union jobs and ensuring a livable future for all people.
The organization also challenges corporate and billionaire power, including divesting from the oil and gas industry and removing corporate Political Action Committee (PAC) money from Democratic primaries.
“The climate crisis is already here in Queens — from fatal hurricane flooding to the heat-related deaths and wildfire smoke poisoning our air,” Park said. “I am thrilled to fight alongside Sunrise NYC against the modern-day oil barons and their investors who are profiting from this crisis. We need a Green New Deal and investment in frontline communities now.”
A cornerstone of Park’s campaign has been getting “big money” out of politics and advocating for clean power, including 100% domestically-produced power and 100% affordable energy for every American.
The endorsement follows other progressive and local grassroots organizations backing Park’s campaign, including Citizens Action, New York Progressive Action Network, 504 Democrats and the Central Queens Independent Democrats.
Park said his campaign has refused all corporate PAC and lobbyist money, centering his platform that includes Medicare for All, universal childcare, safer streets and modernized public transit.
Sunrise NYC said it was proud to endorse Park for Congressional District 6 — which represents parts of Bayside, Elmhurst, Flushing, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens and Maspeth.
“Queens is the cultural capital of the world, with hundreds of languages and diversity it is a borough where everyone can find home,” the organization wrote in a statement. “Yet, as ICE agents target our immigrant families, and storm flooding claims the lives of basement and floor level apartments, Queens is in a crisis.”
The organization said Queens needs leadership that not only defends those in the borough, but stands against the Trump Administration’s assault on Americans and war on the global stage.
“We need investment and a vision for Queens that is affordable, sustainable, and just,” the organization continued. “Sunrise NYC is proud to fight alongside Chuck Park because he knows Queens doesn’t end at the East River. He will fight for a Green New Deal in Congress, work to ensure every family can afford to live here, and Chuck Park will protect the future of Queens from Flushing to Fujian.”
Park — a husband, dad and foster parent — was born in Flushing to Korean immigrants, whom he said worked tirelessly as small business owners.
He eventually served as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer under President Obama in 2010, but resigned in 2019 in protest of Trump’s immigration policies.
After stepping down from the role, Park said he turned to local organizing in Queens, working as a community advocate focusing on immigrant communities and a city government leader supporting economic development and constituents in the district.
In November, he announced his candidacy against Meng, a seven-term incumbent who has spent more than a decade in Congress as part of what Park described as a “long-tenured, entrenched Democratic establishment.”
For more information about his platform, visit ChuckForQueens.com.