attorney Orkin <\/a>is running against Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar in Queens District 38, which has a heavy South Asian and Indo-Caribbean population in the neighborhoods of Richmond Hill, Ozone Park, Glendale, Ridgewood, and Woodhaven.<\/p>\nAttorney David Orkin (above) is running against Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar in Queens District 38. david4queens.com<\/p>\n
Rajkumar, a moderate, had close ties to former Mayor Eric Adams.<\/p>\n
Orkin also wants to lighten up on punishment for criminals, telling the Jim Owles Club, \u201cOur criminal justice system is built on the false premise that mass incarceration promotes public safety \u2026 To fix this broken system, we must move from a model of punishment to one rooted in restoration and care.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diana Moreno<\/p>\n
The DSA supports the re-election of Assemblywoman Moreno, who replaced Zohran Mamdani after he was elected mayor, in District 36 covering Astoria and Long Island City.<\/p>\n
The DSA supports the re-election of Assemblywoman Diana Moreno (above), who replaced Zohran Mamdani after he was elected mayor, in District 36. Camara Porter\/AdMedia \/ SplashNews.com<\/p>\n
Aber Kawas<\/p>\n
DSA candidate and Palestinian activist Kawas is facing off against Assemblyman Steven Raga in the race to replace retiring Sen. Michael Gianaris in the 12th District covering western Queens.<\/p>\n
DSA candidate and Palestinian activist Aber Kawas is facing off against Assemblyman Steven Raga in the race to replace retiring Sen. Michael Gianaris Camara Porter\/AdMedia \/ SplashNews.com<\/p>\n
Raga, the first Filipino-American elected to the state Legislature, has the backing of Queens Borough President Donovan Richards and major unions, including the United Federation of Teachers, 1199 SEIU, NYS Nurses\u2019 Association, District Council 37, among others. <\/p>\n
Illapa Sairitupa<\/p>\n
DSA-backed tenant organizer Sairitupa is running for the open seat in District 65 covering the Lower East Side and Chinatown, left vacant as the current Assemblywoman Grace Lee runs for state Senate. <\/p>\n
Sairitupa also has the backing of Mamdani and the Working Families Party. His rivals for the nomination are Jasmin Sanchez, Lilah Mejia, Wei-Li Tjong and Jay Jacky Wong.<\/p>\n
Samantha Kattan <\/p>\n
Kattan is the DSA candidate running to replace Assemblywoman Claire Valdez in District 37 because Valdez is running for Congress. The district includes the DSA strongholds of Sunnyside, Long Island City, Woodside, Maspeth, and Ridgewood.<\/p>\n
Samantha Kattan is the DSA candidate running to replace Assemblywoman Claire Valdez in District 37. Camara Porter\/AdMedia \/ SplashNews.com<\/p>\n
Claire Valdez campaigns at a joint rally at King\u2019s Theater in Brooklyn, New York on June 18, 2026. Nathan Posner\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
Other races<\/p>\n
\u2013Assemblywoman Jessica Gonz\u00e1lez Rojas is running against incumbent Sen. Jessica Ramos in the 13th District that covers Corona, East Elmhurst, and Jackson Heights.<\/p>\n
Gonzalez-Rojas has the backing of the left-leaning Working Families Party, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, and major unions.<\/p>\n
Many on the political left turned on Ramos, a former darling, after she endorsed Andrew Cuomo for mayor last year.<\/p>\n
Ramos also opposed Mets owner Steven Cohen\u2019s planned casino in her district.<\/p>\n
Assemblywoman Jessica Gonz\u00e1lez Rojas (pictured) is running against incumbent Sen. Jessica Ramos in the 13th District that covers Corona, East Elmhurst, and Jackson Heights. Stefano Giovannini<\/p>\n
\u2014 Ex-con Assemblyman Eddie Gibbs is facing a tough primary from former Councilwoman Diana Ayala in District 68 East Harlem.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Lefty Jibreel Jalloh is challenging conservative Democrat Assemblywoman Jaime Williams in District 59, which includes the hard-scrabble neighborhoods of Canarsie, Mill Basin, and Marine Park.<\/p>\n
Williams opposed the migrant shelter at Floyd Bennett Field in her district and caught flak for endorsing Republican Curtis Sliwa for mayor last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Even though New York is a blue state, it\u2019s still under a red alert. The Democratic Socialists of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[875,878,1091,416,469,94577,11538,57,9,11,10,49,17566,51,50,18571,87,58],"class_list":["post-278727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-adriano-espaillat","tag-alexandria-ocasio-cortez","tag-democratic-socialists-of-america","tag-elections","tag-harlem","tag-keith-wright","tag-legislature","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-assembly","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-new-york-state-senate","tag-politics","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278727","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=278727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}