{"id":135437,"date":"2026-02-16T20:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T20:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/135437\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T20:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T20:20:09","slug":"ocasio-cortez-endorses-brian-romero-in-queens-34th-assembly-district-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/135437\/","title":{"rendered":"Ocasio-Cortez endorses Brian Romero in Queens\u2019 34th Assembly District \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"U.S.\t\t\t<\/p>\n

U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. (Photo via Flickr)<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has endorsed Brian Romero in the race to succeed Assembly Member Jessica Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas in the 34th District.\n<\/p>\n

Romero, a former Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas staffer, announced a campaign<\/a> to succeed his former boss when Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas launched a campaign to primary State Sen. Jessica Ramos in the overlapping 13th Senate District.<\/p>\n

Romero has picked up a number of progressive endorsements since launching his campaign last year, including U.S. Rep. Nydia Vel\u00e1zquez, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards and a number of City Council Members. Make the Road Action, the fundraising arm of influential immigrant non-profit Make the Road New York<\/a>, has also endorsed Romero, along with several Assembly Members.<\/p>\n

However, Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s endorsement represents a significant moment for Romero, who had been running against Aber Kawas, a member of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).<\/p>\n

Significantly, Ocasio-Cortez chose to back Romero over her fellow DSA member in the race, a rare move within the organization. Kawas has since announced that she is pivoting to run for Senate District 12 after veteran State Sen. Michael Gianaris announced that he would not seek re-election.<\/p>\n

Announcing her endorsement, Ocasio-Cortez pointed to Romero\u2019s understanding of \u201cworking people\u2019s needs in Queens,\u201d touting his efforts to stand up for immigrant vendors in Corona and organize relief for communities impacted by Hurricane Ida.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s fought for LGBTQ rights alongside trans rights activist Cecilia Gentili, stood with immigrant communities of Corona\u2019s street vendors & organized relief after Hurricane Ida. I\u2019m proud to endorse him for AD-34,\u201d Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Romero said he was \u201chonored\u201d to receive an endorsement from Ocasio-Cortez, who he described as a \u201cfearless advocate\u201d for working people, immigrants and the LGBTQ community.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHer leadership has helped redefine what bold, people-first representation looks like,\u201d Romero said in a statement welcoming the endorsement.
\n\"BrianBrian Romero alongside Assembly Members Catalina Cruz and Jessica Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas at his campaign kickoff event in December. Photo courtesy of Brian Romero.\n<\/p>\n

With Kawas shifting her attention to the State Senate, the race to succeed Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas in the 34th Assembly District now comes down to two candidates \u2013 Romero and Community Board 2 member Andreas Migias.<\/p>\n

Romero, however, has picked up the majority of endorsements in the race to date and looks to be in a strong position following Kawas\u2019 withdrawal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. (Photo via Flickr) U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has endorsed Brian Romero in the race…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[46417,878,57521,22824,40975,2495,57522,36856,9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":{"0":"post-135437","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-aber-kawas","9":"tag-alexandria-ocasio-cortez","10":"tag-andreas-migias","11":"tag-aoc","12":"tag-brian-romero","13":"tag-dsa","14":"tag-jessica-gonzu00e1lez-rojas","15":"tag-make-the-road","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-city","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-queens","20":"tag-queens-headlines","21":"tag-queens-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}