{"id":51011,"date":"2025-11-24T23:17:21","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T23:17:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/51011\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T23:17:21","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T23:17:21","slug":"rabbi-stephanie-ruskay-announces-candidacy-for-uws-morningside-heights-assembly-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/51011\/","title":{"rendered":"Rabbi Stephanie Ruskay Announces Candidacy for UWS, Morningside Heights Assembly Seat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Stephanie Ruskay. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Ruskay\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n

By Gus Saltonstall<\/p>\n

Stephanie Ruskay, a rabbi and a dean at the Jewish Theological Seminary, has announced her campaign<\/a> to succeed Micah Lasher in Assembly District 69, which covers the northern portion of the Upper West Side and Morningside Heights.<\/p>\n

Ruskay, a first time candidate, describes herself as a public school mom, rabbi, tenant, and community organizer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the radical rightwing agenda coming out of Washington, New Yorkers are under attack,\u201d Ruskay said in a press release announcing her candidacy. \u201cWe need a fighter in the Assembly who can stand up to Trump and protect our city. I\u2019m humbled that so many community leaders have urged me to step up and run for this seat and I\u2019m excited to engage with voters to hear their concerns and share my vision for a safer, more affordable West Side.\u201d<\/p>\n

The seat is open after Lasher, who was elected to the position in 2024, announced earlier this fall that he would be running to succeed Rep. Jerrold Nadler<\/a> in New York\u2019s 12th Congressional District, after the longtime Upper West Side leader said he would not be seeking reelection.<\/p>\n

Before Lasher held the position, Daniel O\u2019Donnell led the district in the Assembly for more than 20 years.<\/p>\n

Eli Northrup was the first person to announce his candidacy<\/a> in October to replace Lasher in Assembly District 69. He finished second in the Democratic primary for the same Upper West Side and Morningside Heights Assembly seat in 2024.<\/p>\n

Ruskay spent part of her childhood on the Upper West Side, specifically growing up in a Mitchell Lama building on West 97th Street. For the last 10 years, she has served at the Associate Dean of the Rabbinical School at the Jewish Theological Seminary<\/a> in Morningside Heights, and also serves as the Executive Director of the Hendel Center for Ethics and Justice.<\/a><\/p>\n

Ruskay, who officially entered the race earlier in November, did so with an endorsement from former Manhattan Borough President and Upper West Side Councilmember Ruth Messinger.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have seen Stephanie act powerfully to achieve change within various local Jewish and non-profit institutions, and I am certain she will bring a strong voice and an insightful presence to Albany and work for change on our behalf,\u201d Messinger said in a press release. \u201cI strongly endorse Stephanie Ruskay and hope she becomes the first woman to serve the 69th Assembly District in 50 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Democratic primary for Assembly District 69 will take place on June 23, 2026.<\/p>\n

You can find out more about Ruskay\u2019s campaign \u2014 HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n

Subscribe to West Side Rag\u2019s FREE email newsletter\u00a0here<\/a>. And you can Support the Rag\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stephanie Ruskay. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Ruskay\u2019s campaign. By Gus Saltonstall Stephanie Ruskay, a rabbi and a dean…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[28454,128,28455,3535,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-51011","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-assemby-district-69","9":"tag-bronx","10":"tag-eli-northrup","11":"tag-micah-lasher","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-the-bronx","16":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","17":"tag-the-bronx-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51011","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=51011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}