Experience and Qualifications
Public Defender
Education
Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University
Campaign Phone
3474539327
Campaign Instagram
instagram.com/kumar4ny
Campaign YouTube
First, immigration. I've spent 20 years defending families from deportation. I've seen what ICE does firsthand. In Congress, I'll fight to dismantle ICE, restore due process, and create permanent pathways to citizenship. The federal government spends $75 billion on detention while shifting costs to local taxpayers.
Second, healthcare. I grew up without health insurance. I know what it means to weigh seeking care or paying bills. I support Medicare for All and in the meantime will fight to expand coverage, lower drug costs, and protect Medicaid from cuts.
Third, cost of living. My parents ran a small business and chose between stocking shelves and making rent every month. Working families across this district are doing that same arithmetic right now. I'll fight for a price gouging prevention act, protect small businesses from corporate consolidation, and redirect the $500 million a day we spend on an unauthorized war toward infrastructure and the com
I'm running a campaign that answers this question every day. No corporate PACs, no super PACs, no AIPAC money, no dark money. I reject any dollar that comes with strings attached because I've spent 20 years seeing what happens when money buys policy. It leads to families being evicted, workers being exploited and our systems being governed by corporations.
Citizens United gave corporations the constitutional rights of people and unleashed unlimited dark money into our elections. The federal government has a responsibility to fix that. I support a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, the DISCLOSE Act for full transparency of political spending, public financing of elections, and banning members of Congress from trading stocks.
This decision gutted the Voting Rights Act. Within hours, Louisiana suspended its own primary so Republicans could redraw the map. Florida passed a gerrymandered map the same day. Alabama and Tennessee followed. Not by winning votes. By erasing the districts where Black voters had representation.
I've spent 20 years fighting systems designed to silence the communities I serve. This is the same fight. Politicians who strip voting power from Black and brown communities are doing what landlords do to tenants and what ICE does to immigrant families. Removing people from the process entirely.
In Congress, I will fight to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to restore the protections this Court destroyed.
The communities I represented for 20 years are paying the price for climate change now. Tenants in public housing with mold and no ventilation. Families with asthma rates nearly double the city average. People dying during storms because stormwater system couldn't handle the rain. This is not a future crisis. It is a housing, health, and infrastructure crisis in communities that did nothing to cause it.
I support the Green New Deal for clean energy with union jobs. I will fight to reinstate Justice40 so frontline communities receive 40% of federal climate investment, end fossil fuel subsidies, and strengthen Clean Air and Clean Water Act enforcement.
In our district, the BQE runs through our neighborhoods, waste transfer stations concentrate in Greenpoint, and Superfund sites remain unremediated. I will fight to clean up what has poisoned our communities and invest in resilient infrastructure going forward.
The U.S. must fully support the UN, fund UNRWA, and restore credibility as a partner in cooperation not obstruction. We must remain committed to NATO while ensuring alliances serve collective security. Not engagement in unauthorized wars in Iran.
On the ICC, the court exists to hold governments accountable for genocide and war crimes. The U.S. should cooperate fully, not sanction judges or obstruct investigations. What is happening in Gaza is genocide. When our government funds it and blocks the court investigating it, that is not sovereignty
The alternative to international institutions is a world where power operates without accountability. I spent my career fighting that in courtrooms. I will fight it in Congress.
Experience and Qualifications
2006-2007: Organizer, NYC ACORN; 2007-2013: Constituent Services, Ridgewood Organizer, Legislative Director, Chief of Staff to City Council Member Diana Reyna; 2014-2021: City Council Member, Co-Chair of the Progressive Caucus, and Chair of the Sanitation Committee; 2022-Present: Brooklyn Borough President
Community Involvement
Founder, Brothers on a New Direction, Le Moyne College Cofounder; New Kings Democrats, 20 years, active member; Organizer, NYC ACORN, 2 years
Education
Le Moyne College
Party Endorsements
Working Families Party
Campaign Phone
3103391908
Campaign Instagram
@reynoso.brooklyn
We are facing an affordability crisis. Housing, healthcare, childcare, groceries, and utility bills are all too expensive while corporations and billionaires line their pockets with record profits. We need to build deeply affordable housing, strengthen workers' rights, cap utility costs, and tax the rich to pay for the services we so desperately need.
We are also facing a moral crisis around endless wars and the expansion of ICE. Families are being terrorized in immigrant communities while billions are spent on war instead of healthcare, housing, and education. We need a foreign policy centered on diplomacy and human rights, and we need to protect immigrant communities by abolishing ICE and creating true pathways to citizenship.
Finally, our democracy is in free fall because of corporate influence, attacks on voting rights, and growing authoritarianism. We need stronger voting protections, to end Citizens United, and leaders willing to stand up to special interests.
Right now, our campaign finance system allows a handful of ultra-wealthy donors and corporations to drown out the voices of working people. That is our democracy in free fall.
I support overturning Citizens United so we can finally ban unlimited corporate money in politics. We also need stronger public financing systems, stricter disclosure laws, and real enforcement against dark money groups.
But we also have to address the extreme concentration of wealth itself. In my Tax the Rich plan, I call for a 5% tax on wealth over $50 million and a 10% tax on wealth over $250 million because no billionaire should have the power to buy elections or shape public policy for their own benefit. Our democracy should belong to working people, not the ultra-rich.
The same Court that overturned Roe, weakened labor rights, and empowered billionaires through Citizens United is now making it harder for Black communities to elect representatives and have their voices heard. Justice Kagan was right when she warned this decision could “demolish” core protections of the Voting Rights Act. Congress must respond by restoring and expanding the Voting Rights Act, banning partisan gerrymandering, and protecting equal access to the ballot for every American.
The federal government needs to act with the urgency this moment demands. I support a Green New Deal and a Just Transition that creates good union jobs while rapidly decarbonizing our economy. We need to stop the development of new fossil fuel infrastructure, invest aggressively in renewable energy like offshore wind and solar, modernize our electric grid, electrify buildings, and expand public transit to reduce emissions and lower costs for working families.
As someone who grew up in Los Sures alongside the BQE and some of the city’s worst pollution, environmental justice is personal to me. In office, I passed the Waste Equity Law and Commercial Waste Zones to reduce pollution in overburdened communities, and as Borough President I’ve supported projects like Empire Wind and Renewable Rikers. In Congress, I’ll fight to hold major polluters accountable, including the Defense Department, and ensure frontline communities benefit first from the clean energy transition.
The United States should always lead with diplomacy and the desire to protect human rights across the globe. What we are seeing instead today is a President and administration who view international law as a recommendation that can be ignored. Congress must reclaim its constitutional authority over war and foreign intervention. Republicans and Democrats alike have allowed unchecked military spending and endless foreign wars to destabilize communities abroad while working families here struggle to afford housing, healthcare, and energy bills. We need a foreign policy rooted in peace instead of viewing war as a means to line the pockets of defense contractors.
Experience and Qualifications
I am a union organizer, artist, and democratic socialist. I currently serve as New York State Assemblymember for District 37 in Queens. Prior to election, I was a Program Assistant in Columbia University’s Visual Arts Program, the Operations Manager at SculptureCenter, and worked at Trader Joe’s and Taco Bell. As a worker at Columbia University, I joined UAW Local 2110, where I was elected to the bargaining committee, and organized both to represent the members of my union and to democratize my union with the UAW Members United slate. As Assemblymember, I work to tax the rich, protect tenants, improve workers’ rights and benefits, and fight back against the Trump administration's attacks on immigrant communities.
Community Involvement
I have been a member of the NYC chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America for almost 7 years, during which I served as the Membership Coordinator and volunteered on numerous electoral campaigns, like Julia Salazar’s and Jabari Brisport’s, as well as issue campaigns, including those to Tax the Rich, win citywide just cause worker protections, and demand a ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo. As an Assemblymember, I regularly attend community events and meetings with local groups like the
Education
BFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Party Endorsements
N/A
Campaign Phone
319-721-3689
Campaign Instagram
www.instagram.com/claireforny
Campaign YouTube
1. End the Housing Crisis. We must decommodify housing, beginning by passing the Homes Act to create a public option and break the private market's stranglehold, and fighting to fully fund NYCHA and repeal the Faircloth Amendment.
2. Abolish ICE. ICE is terrorizing our neighbors and must be dismantled. We need to also investigate and prosecute ICE agents who have broken the law, and push for real immigration reform, creating new pathways to citizenship and investing in making our immigration process more efficient.
3. End Forever Wars and Imperialism. We must reject the doctrine of militarism and build a foreign policy rooted in solidarity, working with the global community to tackle shared threats like poverty, pandemics, and climate change. We must put an end to weapons sales and military aid to Israel, fight for Palestinian freedom, end American imperialism in Latin America, and stand for Puerto Rican self-determination.
The federal government has a duty to ensure that elections are fair and accessible to all candidates, not just the wealthy or those with big-monied backers. In Congress, I would support legislation to ban members of Congress from trading and owning stocks in order to reduce conflicts of interest. I would fight to expand campaign matching fund programs (in line with those that exist in New York City and New York State) to allow working people to run for office without needing the support of wealthy donors. I also support passing legislation to override the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United. Finally, I will continue to lead by example by running all of my campaigns free from corporate, real estate, fossil fuel, cryptocurrency, AI, and other interests that don’t align with our movement’s values but who try to influence our elections with big spending.
I am appalled by the gutting of the Voting Rights Act. Racism is baked into our country’s history, and the Voting Rights Act remains vital to ensuring people of color, particularly Black Americans, are not disenfranchised. I support legislation to expand the Supreme Court and establish term-limits for justices, as well as the passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Further, the structure of the US Senate, the Electoral College, and the existence of the filibuster are all part of an effort by the right to impose permanent minority rule. We need a mass movement to restore and deepen democracy that puts government in the hands of working people.
I will prioritize a Green New Deal that takes the climate crisis seriously by building publicly-owned renewable energy projects and climate-resilient infrastructure; creating millions of well-paying, union jobs; and making energy cleaner and more affordable for everyone. I will also push for tough AI regulation, so its rapid expansion doesn't increase energy bills, degrade the environment, or lay off millions of workers. Locally, I will prioritize the remediation of the three superfund sites in NY-7, make polluters pay for the damage they’ve done, and work to get rid of the fossil fuel infrastructure poisoning our communities and contributing to climate change. In addition, to treat climate change as the preeminent global threat it is, we must promote global cooperation and solidarity.
War is not a sustainable or moral form of negotiation. The U.S. must work to build a true rules-based order that prioritizes cooperation and where no country or leader is above the law, including the U.S. and its allies. This year the U.S. imposed sanctions on several ICC judges and prosecutors. We should engage with the ICC and abide by international law, not punish the Court for attempting to hold world leaders accountable for their crimes. We can only build a world where the working class thrives by prioritizing diplomacy and engagement. International bodies like the United Nations provide a forum for conflict resolution and problem-solving. NATO, while imperfect, maintains an important alliance that can work to carry out the U.N.’s peacekeeping missions.
Experience and Qualifications
I’m Julie – an immigrant, mom, and renter–and as Council Member, I’ve added over 32,000 new homes and secured $2 billion for schools, parks, public housing, transportation, and resiliency. I believe that from the moment you’re born until the day you retire, this country should have your back. I’m running for Congress to build a Lifetime of Care, policies that support us at every stage of life.
Community Involvement
Board member of Queens Community Board 2, Community Capacity Development, QNS Together, and a co-founder of the Queens Small Business Alliance (QSBA)
Education
Syracuse University
Campaign Instagram
www.instagram.com/juliej_won/
1: We need a stronger safety net. Americans need universal healthcare, paid family leave, affordable childcare, and a retirement system that doesn't leave working people behind.
2: Affordable housing. For too many Americans, paying rent is a constant source of anxiety and homeownership is out of reach. In Congress, I'll fight for expanded tenant protections, deep investment in public housing, and real resources for housing authorities nationwide.
3: Immigration. Eleven million undocumented people live and work in this country, contributing to our communities and our economy. In Congress, I will fight to strengthen sanctuary protections, create real pathways to citizenship, protect immigrant workers, end family separation, and abolish ICE.
These priorities are personal. I am an immigrant New Yorker raising children while caring for aging parents in an increasingly unaffordable city. My life informs my belief that this country should have your back from birth through death.
Running for office in America has become a “pay-to-play” system where if you don't have wealthy donors, a party machine, or a super PAC behind you, you have almost no chance at winning. The federal government should do more to limit the influence of money in politics through public matching funds for federal elections, dark money disclosure requirements, and overturning Citizens United.
My campaigns for City Council were powered by New York City's public matching funds program, which multiplies small donations 8-to-1. Matching funds are transformational: the 2021 City Council became the first in New York City history with a majority of women and people of color because it was not prohibitively expensive to run.
That model should exist at every level of government. I will fight to establish a federal public matching funds program so that working people, immigrants, and people of color can run and win without having to sell access to get there.
The Voting Rights Act is one of the most important laws ever passed in this country, but for decades it has been systematically dismantled, first by Shelby County v. Holder and now by Callais. The result is a system where the rules are rigged to dilute the power of Black voters and communities of color.
Congress must pass new voting rights legislation with teeth: restoring pre-clearance requirements gutted by Shelby County, protecting majority-minority districts, and criminalizing the voter suppression tactics like purges and discriminatory ID laws that have proliferated in their absence.
At the state level, New York should lead by expanding public matching funds to congressional campaigns, implementing ranked choice voting everywhere, and continuing to fight gerrymandering through independent redistricting.
Climate change is an existential threat, and the federal government must react accordingly. I propose aggressive investments in clean energy and green jobs, enforceable emissions standards, and full funding for the cleanup of Superfund sites. We must rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement and restore the United States' role in international climate cooperation. Additionally, the government should be building resilient infrastructure like flood barriers, upgraded sewer systems, and cooling centers in communities that cannot wait for the private market to protect them.
In my neighborhood, the waterfront floods during violent storms, heat waves threaten our most vulnerable residents, and Newtown Creek (a federal Superfund site) has poisoned neighboring communities for generations. The people bearing the worst costs of climate change are rarely the ones who caused it.
The United States must recommit to multilateralism. International institutions like the UN, the ICC, and NATO offer pathways to resolving conflicts through diplomacy rather than force. Also, when the United States withdraws, a vacuum is filled by authoritarianism and aggression. I will fight to rejoin the WHO, UNESCO, and the UN Human Rights Council, restore USAID, and use American leadership to strengthen the international order.
My grandfather was a toddler in Hiroshima the day the bomb fell. My great-grandmother died instantly. As a child, I rubbed ointment on his back because the burns from nuclear exposure never healed. I know what happens when diplomacy fails, which is why preventing military conflict is the animating purpose behind everything I would do in Congress on the world stage.
