By Ryan Schwach<\/p>\n
Queens State Senator Michael Gianaris may be retiring at the end of the year, but that hasn\u2019t stopped him from endorsing those he hopes will become future members of the legislature \u2013 except when it comes to the race to fill his own seat. <\/p>\n
The outgoing Senate minority leader has supported progressive and democratic socialist candidates across the borough this election cycle, but has remained silent on the contest to replace him in Albany between Democratic Socialists of America-backed Aber Kawas and Assemblymember Steven Raga, a progressive lawmaker who served alongside Gianaris in the legislature.<\/p>\n
While Kawas said she is hoping to score Gianaris\u2019 endorsement before election day next week \u2013 early voting is already underway \u2013 Raga declined to comment on whether he\u2019s courting the senator\u2019s support in the race for the 12th District. <\/p>\n
Gianaris did not respond to several requests for comment on his plans to endorse in his district. <\/p>\n
The longtime lawmaker has not shied away from pushing for his preferred candidates, even those in tight races. This week, he announced that he was backing Assemblymember Claire Valdez in her congressional race against Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, Queens City Councilmember Julie Won, and attorney Vichal Kumar. <\/p>\n
He has also announced his endorsement of Samantha Kattan, a DSA member running for Valdez\u2019s open seat in the Assembly; Brian Romero, who is running in Assembly District 34; and Rep. Grace Meng, who is facing a challenge from her left from former government worker Chuck Park. <\/p>\n
But, he has yet to endorse in the race to succeed him. <\/p>\n
While not unprecedented, it is rare that such a well-known and powerful incumbent wouldn\u2019t weigh in on his own replacement. <\/p>\n
Many of his fellow outgoing and retiring colleagues in Queens already have. <\/p>\n
Representative Nydia Vel\u00e1zquez is backing Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso against Valdez, Assemblymember Jessica Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas is backing Romero to fill her seat, Assemblymember Vivian Cook is backing Nathaniel Hezekiah, Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato is supporting Pesach Osina, and Valdez is also supporting Kattan. <\/p>\n
The only other current Queens office holder who is vacating a seat but has yet to endorse in the race to fill it is Raga. <\/p>\n
Raga\u2019s campaign declined to comment on his own silence in his assembly district. <\/p>\n
Kawas said that her campaign has been in contact with Gianaris, and added that the senator has been \u201cgracious and encouraging,\u201d in a statement to the Eagle. <\/p>\n
In a recent interview with the Queens Ledger, Kawas said it was Gianaris who encouraged her to run for office in the first place. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe respect if he chooses to let his constituents decide on their own who will best represent them,\u201d Kawas said in a statement. \u201cWe feel confident that we\u2019re the campaign that is the best fit to represent the district and build on his progressive legacy, and look forward to working with the Senator on transition upon winning.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Palestinian organizer had originally launched a bid for State Assembly in JGR\u2019s 34th District, where she would have been in a tightly contested contest with Romero, Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas\u2019 former chief of staff who is also a DSA member. <\/p>\n
After Gianaris announced his retirement in February, Kawas shifted to run for his newly vacant seat, avoiding what could have been a potentially divisive race between her and Romero. <\/p>\n
Raga, who has represented Western Queens since 2023, jumped in soon after. <\/p>\n
\u201cI admire the work of Senator Gianaris and have had the honor of working with him over the last ten years on the issues facing everyday people in Western Queens, including affordability, health care, housing, food security, mass transit, and immigrant justice,\u201d Raga said in a statement when asked about a potential Gianaris endorsement. \u201cThat\u2019s why I have worked hard to earn the trust of voters during this campaign to succeed Mike Gianaris, and why my campaign has amassed the broadest coalition of support: from progressive electeds, to our labor unions, organizations standing up for immigrant justice, disability rights, LGBTQ+ equality, and local clubs.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe people of SD12 need a leader with the coalitions to turn progressive values into results. I have built those coalitions and will continue to get those results in the State Senate,” the assemblymember added. <\/p>\n
The race for Gianaris\u2019 seat has been billed as one of several DSA-versus-progressive fights unfolding throughout the city, including in the 7th Congressional District, which covers parts of Queens. <\/p>\n
Both candidates are progressive, and both are dues-paying members of the DSA. They have largely split local endorsements. <\/p>\n
Kawas has the formal support of the DSA, as well as Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Queens\u2019 cohort of DSA electeds, save Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Ryan Schwach Queens State Senator Michael Gianaris may be retiring at the end of the year, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-271341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271341","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=271341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}