Experience and Qualifications
Vice Chair of the Manhattan Democratic Party; Vice Chair, Manhattan Dems Executive Committee; District Leader for AD-65 Part C; Quality of Life Committee Co-Chair and Treasurer on Manhattan Community Board 1; 22 years as a Controller in an IBEW Local #3 union shop
Community Involvement
Executive Committee Member of Downtown Independent Democrats; Executive Board Member of Sophie Gerson Healthy Youth; World Trade Center SSC & STAC Member (Special Federal Employee); Board Member, Harlem Historical Society; NYP Lower Manhattan Hospital Community Advisory Board Member
Education
BS Accounting w/ NYS Manufacturing Management Certification
Party Endorsements
Downtown Independent Democrats; Stonewall Democratic Club; former Borough President C. Virginia Fields; former State Supreme Court Justice & City Council Member Kathryn Freed; former State Assembly & City Council Member Inez Dickens; former State Assemblymember Alice Cancel; former City Councilmember Alan Gerson; former Manhattan Democratic Party Chair Domenico Minverva; Manhattan Democratic Party 2nd Vice Chair John Wahlmeier; many current and former District Leaders and State Committee members
Campaign Phone
2025773299
Campaign Instagram
www.instagram.com/mj4nyc1
Affordable Housing: We must prioritize building deeply affordable housing over luxury developments. I’ve fought for housing at 5 WTC and support Mitchell-Lama renewal, stronger tenant protections, anti-displacement policies, and full NYCHA investment. Working families, seniors, immigrants, and longtime residents deserve the right to stay in their own neighborhoods.
Healthcare: My work on the Zadroga Act for 9/11 survivors and responders informs my position that we must fully fund Medicaid, protect reproductive healthcare, strengthen mental health services, and ensure fair pay, safe conditions, and dignity for home care workers.
Strong communities: Through Sophie Gerson Healthy Youth I’ve seen mentorship and community spaces change lives. We must invest in public education and after-school programs for our young people. Also, seniors deserve dignity, affordable services, healthcare, and connection. We should aim to build vertically supportive, intergenerational communities.
Prioritizing Waterfront Resiliency: I would advocate for accelerated funding for the Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency (LMCR) projects. As a lifelong resident, I understand that climate change isn't a future threat, but rather a present reality for our seaport economy and our flood-zone housing developments.
The Climate Superfund Act: Leveraging my background as an accountant, I would support policies that hold major polluters fiscally responsible, like a New York version of New Jersey's Climate Superfund Act, to ensure that the costs of infrastructure upgrades (like sea walls and green transit) are borne by corporate emitters rather than being passed on to tenants through higher utility bills or taxes.
Green Public Spaces: I would emphasize the creation of more urban green spaces in Lower Manhattan, not just for leisure, but as a critical tool for heat mitigation and flood absorption.
Racial Wealth Gap: Budgets are moral documents. I will expand and enforce MWBE participation in state contracting, ensuring Black, Latino, and Asian-owned businesses access procurement. I will also support state-backed low-interest first-time homebuyer loans for communities of color.
Maternal Health: Black women in NY face far higher life-threatening childbirth complications. I will fund community doulas and expand intersectional health clinics, treating maternal mortality as a public health emergency.
Environmental Justice: I will support the NY HEAT Act to reduce utility burdens and invest in Green Zones in historically polluted, low-tree-canopy neighborhoods, creating local green jobs.
Housing as a Human Right: I will protect Mitchell-Lama and HDFC programs, strengthen oversight, and prevent predatory conversions so longtime Black and Brown residents are not displaced from the communities they've worked to build.
Strengthening the NYS John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act: I propose that the state further solidify its voter protections law to act as a firewall against federal rollbacks. Since Callais makes it harder to challenge discriminatory maps at the federal level, I would advocate for state-level mandates that prioritize communities of interest over partisan advantage.
Independent Redistricting Transparency: Drawing on my experience as a member and committee co-chair on Manhattan Community Board 1, I would push for greater transparency for the state’s redistricting commission to ensure that minority-majority districts, which are crucial for the representation of Lower Manhattan’s diverse cultural enclaves, are protected from being “cracked” or “packed” for partisan gain.
Voter Education and Access: I would propose state funding for local organizations to provide voter registration and education services, ensuring that no community is politically silenced due to shifts in the legal landscape.
Experience and Qualifications
My experience and qualifications come from both my professional work and my lived experiences as someone born and raised in the Lower East Side. I have worked for the majority of the settlement houses in the LES as well as organizations like GOLES, where I supported community members through housing advocacy, tenant organizing, youth and family support, food access, and crisis response work. Over the years, I have also volunteered throughout the neighborhood on numerous community projects and continue to do so today. My experience includes organizing food distributions during emergencies, helping tenants organize and begin HP actions against negligent landlords, assisting parents as they navigate the Board of Education and school system, connecting families to resources, and advocating for vulnerable residents across the Lower East Side. I have experience in grassroots organizing, outreach, public speaking, emergency response, education advocacy, and coalition building. I have also
Community Involvement
I am lifelong resident of the Lower East Side with twenty plus years of grassroots organizing and advocacy experience.Former President of Community Education Council 1 (CEC1), advocating for public school students and families across District 1.Organized alongside parents on issues involving school equity, co-locations, special education, language access, overcrowding, and parent engagement.Helped co-design the first Family Resource Center in District 1 to better connect families to critical sup
Education
CUNY school of Labor & Urban Studies, BA in urban studies, Metropolitan College, MPA in Emergency Management
Party Endorsements
CODA, Councilmember Harvey Epstein, Former Council member Margarita Rosa, Former Council member Rosie Mendez, TA leader Camille, Napoleon, Education Advocate Naomi Pena, District Leaders for the 74AD Ciara Lugo & Marquis Jenkins, Ester Lang Community Advocate,
Campaign Phone
718-313-7620
Campaign Instagram
Lilah4assembly
Affordable Housing & Protecting Longtime Residents
One of my top priorities would be fighting to keep working-class families, seniors, and longtime residents in the Lower East Side and Chinatown. That means pushing for stronger tenant protections, holding negligent landlords accountable, preserving NYCHA and Mitchell
Affordable Housing & Protecting Residents
Fight for stronger tenant protections, preserve NYCHA and affordable housing, hold negligent landlords accountable, and prevent displacement of working-class families, seniors, and longtime residents.
Education & Youth Support
Advocate for better funding for public schools, mental health services, after-school programs, special education support, and stronger communication and resources for families and students.
Community Resilience & Mental Health
Expand access to mental health services, strengthen emergency preparedness and disaster response, and continue supporting food justice initiatives like community fridges and school pantries to help vulnerable communities thrive.
I will pursue policies that center equity and address the systemic inequalities impacting Black, Brown, immigrant, low-income, and working-class communities. As a lifelong Lower East Side resident and longtime community organizer, I have seen firsthand how issues like housing insecurity, underfunded schools, food insecurity, over-policing, lack of mental health support, and environmental injustice disproportionately impact vulnerable communities. I will fight for stronger tenant protections, equitable school funding, expanded mental health services, language access, and culturally responsive community programs. I also support investing more in youth programs, education, violence prevention, and community wellness because true public safety comes from stable and supported communities.
I would support New York State taking stronger action to protect voting rights and fair representation at the state level following the Louisiana v. Callais decision. That includes strengthening and fully enforcing the New York Voting Rights Act, expanding protections against racial vote dilution, and ensuring independent and transparent redistricting processes that fairly represent Black, Brown, immigrant, and working-class communities.
I would also support expanding language access at polling sites, increasing funding for community-based voter education and outreach, protecting early voting and vote-by-mail access, and making it easier for eligible New Yorkers to register and vote. As a community organizer, I believe democracy works best when the people most impacted have a real voice in the process, and New York should continue leading in protecting voting rights and equitable representation.
Experience and Qualifications
Hands Off NYC (2025- present), Cooper Square Committee (2022 - Present), St.Marks Place Institute for Mental Health (2020-2022), Bellevue Educare (2016- 2019)
Community Involvement
Illapa is a local tenant organizer who helps renters build tenant associations, pressure landlords into delivering the repairs they need, and activates new organizers into the housing movement. He's also an organizer with the This Land is Ours Community Land Trust (CLT), which fights for CLTs in Lower Manhattan. He's actively organized against ICE by leading Know Your Rights trainings, growing local networks against them, and supporting with community leaders at schools.
Education
MSW from NYU
Campaign Instagram
instagram.com/illapanyc
1. Making the wealthy pay their fair share to fund services like free childcare
2. Having New York State build and own affordable housing directly
3. Protecting our neighbors from federal overreach, especially from ICE
I want to lower New Yorkers' utility bills by making the state actually follow through on the Build Public Renewables Act, a climate law that's already passed but the governor has not implemented. It requires New York State to calculate how much renewable energy we need each year to hit our 70% clean electricity goal by 2030, and then build that much cheap, publicly-owned renewable energy. In Albany, I'll fight every budget cycle to get more public funding to build it faster.
My campaign priorities all have a social and racial dimension. We seek massive redistribution of wealth and removing fundamental human needs like child care and housing from the failing market economy. Policies like free universal childcare and making NYS directly compete with the private sector to build more social/public housing will benefit everyone, but especially poor, black and/or brown New Yorkers.
The VRA "was born of the literal blood of Union soldiers and civil rights marchers", as Justice Kagan wrote, and the NYS legislature should do everything it can to protect the civil rights organizers fought long and hard to win. Ultimately, the way forward is proportional representation, and New York should lead by implementing it here.
Experience and Qualifications
I am a lifelong Lower East Sider, NYCHA resident, tenant organizer, labor advocate, and former Democratic District Leader. I have spent more than 30 years in the nonprofit sector, including work strengthening after-school programming, social-emotional learning, mental health supports, and services for young people and families. I have organized alongside tenants and NYCHA residents, fought for climate resiliency and transparency in the rebuilding of East River Park, and helped draft the Green New Deal for Public Housing. I am also a graduate student at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, where my work focuses on labor, organizing, and urban policy.
Community Involvement
For over 30 years, I have worked in the nonprofit sector to expand after-school programming, social-emotional learning, mental health support, and youth services for young people and families in the West Village, Battery Park City, and the Lower East Side. I have also supported small businesses, especially immigrant- and women-owned storefronts in Chinatown, the Lower East Side, and the East Village.
Education
Graduate Student, CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies
Party Endorsements
I am currently seeking the Working Families Party endorsement.
Campaign Phone
646-830-8821
Campaign Instagram
www.instagram.com/jasminsanchezny
Housing stability and affordability. I believe housing is a human right. I will fight to strengthen tenant protections, fully fund NYCHA and public housing, and expand deeply affordable and permanently affordable models. I also support expanding SCRIE and DRIE so seniors and people with disabilities can age in place, and investing in rental assistance and supportive housing to confront homelessness.
Public education and youth investment. Every child deserves a quality education. I will advocate for fully funding public schools, expanding mental health resources and after-school programs, and ensuring students and educators have the support they need. We must invest in opportunities for young people to build stable futures.
Protecting immigrant communities. I will fight for policies that protect immigrants, defend New York’s sanctuary laws, expand access to legal and social services, and ensure all New Yorkers can live with dignity and security, regardless of immigration status.
Climate policy must prioritize the health, safety, and economic security of working-class and frontline communities. As someone who worked on the Green New Deal for Public Housing and organized around the East River Park redevelopment, I have seen how climate change disproportionately impacts low-income communities, NYCHA residents, immigrants, and communities of color.
New York must invest in resilient infrastructure, flood protection, and climate adaptation projects while ensuring communities have a real voice in decision-making. We need major investments to modernize public housing, improve energy efficiency, reduce emissions, and lower utility costs for residents. Climate action should also create good union jobs and pathways into the clean energy economy.
We must strengthen public transit, reduce pollution, invest in renewable energy, and expand programs that incentivize clean energy alternatives and low-emission technologies for homeowners, landlords, and businesses.
I believe social and racial justice means building a New York where everyone, regardless of race, income, immigration status, religion, or ZIP code, has the resources and opportunities to live with dignity and security. That requires addressing inequality through investments in housing, healthcare, education, accessibility, and economic opportunity. I support a public health approach to safety that invests in violence prevention, mental health services, and community-based interventions. I will fight to strengthen workers’ rights, raise wages, protect union jobs, expand access to affordable healthcare, and protect immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities. I support expanding programs like SNAP, rental assistance, and childcare assistance for working families. I will advocate for stronger tenant protections, investments in public housing, fully funded public schools, and policies that allow older adults to age in place with dignity and make New York more accessible for people with disabilities.
The Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais is another dangerous weakening of voting rights protections that threatens fair representation for Black and Brown communities. New York must respond by strengthening protections for voters at the state level instead of waiting for federal action. I support expanding and strengthening New York’s Voting Rights Act to further protect against racial gerrymandering, voter suppression, intimidation, and the dilution of minority voting power. We should also pursue independent and transparent redistricting processes, expand language access and voter education programs, protect early voting and vote-by-mail access, and ensure communities historically excluded from the political process have a meaningful voice in government. Voting rights are under attack nationally, and New York should lead by protecting democracy, expanding access to the ballot box, and ensuring every community receives fair representation.
Experience and Qualifications
I've practiced law in New York for 25 years while volunteering as a community leader.
Community Involvement
I’ve served as a County Committee Member, Judicial Delegate, Democratic State Committee Member, and also led Seward Park Co-op — a community of 5,000 residents and 55 small businesses — for 23 out of the last 26 years, including as its current President.
Education
Johns Hopkins University, NYU School of Law
Party Endorsements
Grand Street Democrats
Campaign Phone
212-858-0836
Campaign Instagram
weili.nyc
I’ll fight to keep our neighborhoods livable by expanding affordable housing protections, preserving Mitchell-Lama & subsidized housing, supporting NORCS, & increasing funding for public housing repairs. I also support rental assistance & due process in evictions.
I support ethical law enforcement & community-based public safety strategies that build trust & address root causes of violence, including creating connections across our communities to strengthen mutual understanding & respect. I’ll also protect immigrant families by supporting measures like the New York for All Act & defending due process for the most vulnerable residents seeking safety & opportunity.
I’ll work to create more opportunities for young people & working families by investing in public schools, universal pre-K, CUNY/SUNY, & bilingual education. We must strengthen & expand pathways to the middle class—including college, apprenticeships, & career/technical education that lead to good union jobs.
We must urgently fund environmental protections that safeguard our water, strengthen climate resilience, and accelerate the transition to clean energy, creating good-paying local jobs. These investments protect public health, lower long-term costs, and secure our future.
Transportation is New York’s largest source of emissions, so we should continue expanding and modernizing public transit, improving street safety, and reducing car dependency.
At the same time, our energy transition must be grounded in affordability, reliability, and realistic implementation. New York should continue investing aggressively in renewable energy, grid modernization, battery storage, and cleaner buildings, while ensuring working families and small businesses are not burdened with unreasonable costs or unreliable service. The costs of increased electrification should not come at the cost of disaster resiliency in our district, nor should its costs fall on those least able to bear it.
Understanding inequality in Lower Manhattan requires acknowledging its roots in historic injustices—redlining, discriminatory zoning, unequal schools, & uneven access to economic opportunity—that still shape outcomes today. These systems didn’t disappear; they continue to influence who can afford to live here, who can start a business, & who has access to quality healthcare and education. Being intentional about how we talk about affordability, public safety, education, & economic development matters. Our language should recognize the role of structural inequities while making clear that inclusive solutions benefit everyone.
Promoting social & racial equity means supporting small businesses, investing in public schools, expanding access to healthcare and good jobs, & ensuring public spaces are welcoming & safe for all. By connecting past injustices to present challenges, we can advance policies that make Lower Manhattan more fair, inclusive, & livable for every community.
We have the NYVRA, which builds on the strongest parts of the landmark federal VRA. To ensure its survival, we must: amend NYVRA to use a pure results-based anti-dilution standard grounded in state constitutional law — independent of the now-gutted federal Gingles framework; amend the constitution to guarantee minority communities the right to meaningful electoral participation; pass an anti-partisan-gerrymandering act with measurable metrics (closing the "partisan alibi" loophole Callais opened); strengthen the IRC mandate to treat minority communities of interest as a named, weighted redistricting criterion; authorize alternative voting systems (RCV, cumulative, limited voting) for local elections statewide — representation without race-based districting; expand language access; extend preclearance to state legislative and congressional redistricting, not just local governments; and require demographic impact statements for all redistricting plans introduced in the Legislature.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
