“Running for office is a privilege; one that I do not take lightly,” said Orkin, an immigrant rights\u2019 attorney and first-time candidate. “Our volunteer-led petitioning efforts connected our campaign directly with hundreds of residents in District 38 looking for a candidate who will stand up to corruption and fight for a more affordable city. We look forward to a swift and transparent review by the Board of Elections and Queens Supreme Court to ensure that election rules are applied fairly and that the voices of Queens\u2019 voters are protected.”<\/p>\n
Rajkumar\u2019s reelection campaign denied that their petitions included any fraudulent signatures. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis lawsuit is a blatant political stunt from a DSA-backed campaign that knows it cannot compete on the ground,\u201d said campaign spokesperson Arvind Sooknanan. \u201cYou cannot litigate your way out of weak grassroots support.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTeam Jenifer looks forward to a resounding win at the ballot box, where the people of South Queens will reject these desperate tactics and stand with Jenifer\u2019s relentless hard work, historic representation for underserved communities, and a leader who truly loves this job and the people she serves,\u201d the campaign added. <\/p>\n
Rajkumar\u2019s campaign also said that it is unfair to single them out for any fraud, because it was not just her name on the petition. <\/p>\n
The petition sheets in question were printed by the Queens Democratic Party, and included other candidates for district leader and judge, as well as congressional candidate Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, according to the Rajkumar campaign. <\/p>\n
The incumbent\u2019s campaign has filed general objections against Orkin\u2019s petitions, and is also echoing currently unproven claims of fraud levied against the socialist\u2019s campaign by a group called Latinos Against Socialism. <\/p>\n
The group did not respond to a request for more information about their allegations on Friday.<\/p>\n
Sooknanan, Rajkumar\u2019s campaign spokesperson, said the campaign doesn\u2019t intend to bring a suit against Orkin.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will win this at the ballot box,\u201d Sooknanan said. <\/p>\n
This is not the first name Rajkumar has been embroiled in accusations of fraudulent petitions. <\/p>\n
In 2022, several Queens residents told New York Focus that they did not sign petitions that boosted Rajkumar and former City Councilmember Elizabeth Crowley in her failed bid for the State Senate. <\/p>\n
The 2026 race for Rajkumar\u2019s District 38, which includes Ridgewood, Glendale and parts of Woodhaven south of Forest Park, is one of the more closely watched in the borough. <\/p>\n
Rajkumar rose to prominence as a staunch ally of former Mayor Eric Adams, a frequent target of the DSA. <\/p>\n
She attempted to run for comptroller last year before deciding instead to run for public advocate, losing to the incumbent, Jumaane Williams, by over 52 percentage points.<\/p>\n
This is the first year Rajkumar has been challenged by a Democratic candidate for her seat. <\/p>\n
She has not filed any official campaign funding yet because she is not participating in the state\u2019s matching funds. Her campaign claims to have raised around $300,000. <\/p>\n
Orkin\u2019s camp has raised about $69,000 since the beginning of the campaign and is hoping to receive around $123,000 in matching funds.<\/p>\n
Orkin was most recently a staff attorney at immigration non-profit Make the Road New York, and is one of several DSA members seeking to capitalize on the momentum of Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s win in districts where the mayor performed well. <\/p>\n
Mamdani won District 38 by 37 percentage points in last year\u2019s Democratic primary, and by 21 percentage points in the general election. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“Running for office is a privilege; one that I do not take lightly,” said Orkin, an immigrant rights\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":{"0":"post-201211","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-queens","12":"tag-queens-headlines","13":"tag-queens-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201211","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=201211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}