PRESS RELEASE
Senate Deputy Leader Gianaris Announces 2022 Re-Election Campaign, Supported By Broad Coalition Of Progressive Activists, Community Leaders, And Organized Labor
Gianaris, running in new 12th Senate district, highlights record of protecting tenants, fully funding schools, safeguarding reproductive healthcare, and defeating fossil fuel plant
On Wednesday morning, elected officials including Congresswoman Nydia Veláquez, State Senator Michael Gianaris, City Council Member Lincoln Restler, and Kings Borough President Antonio Reynoso will announce their endorsement of Kristen Gonzalez in her candidacy for New York’s District 59, following Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s endorsement.
The newly drawn State Senate District 59 includes the neighborhoods of Astoria and Long Island City in Queens; Greenpoint and Williamsburg in Brooklyn; and Stuyvesant Town and Kips Bay in Manhattan.
“Western Queens should continue having a progressive fighter in the State Senate, and Kristen Gonzalez is that person,” said Senate Deputy Leader MIchael Gianaris. “She’ll be a reliable partner in helping to tackle the climate crisis and stand up to powerful moneyed interests. She’s the colleague I need in Albany, and I hope that my friends and former constituents in the new District 59 support her.”
Kristen Gonzalez, a community organizer and tech worker from Long Island City, has gained over thirty endorsements in her campaign for New York’s newest State Senate seat. The campaign has broad support from elected across the district, including previous endorsements from Congresswoman AOC, Assmeblymember Emily Gallagher, Senator Julia Salazar, and City Council Member Tiffany Cabán.
“I’m proud to support another young, progressive Latina and Puerto Rican like Kristen Gonzalez for District 59,” said Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez. “Kristen has been in these neighborhoods building the working-class, multiracial coalition we need fighting for us in Albany, and I’m so excited to work with her to represent Brooklyn and Queens in our districts.”
Gonzalez is running against a few opponents, including former City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, who lost a bid for Queens borough president last year and is the cousin of former Congressman Joe Crowley, ousted by Congresswoman AOC in 2018.
Also in the race is Nomiki Konst, a podcaster and media personality who launched her campaign at the last minute.
“Greenpoint and Williamsburg need a progressive leader with the courage to stand up for our community against corporate and fossil fuel interests,” said City Council Member Lincoln Restler. “I’m proud to announce my endorsement for Kristen Gonzalez because I know she has the courage and experience fighting for her neighbors. I’m excited to partner with Kristen to fight for tenants and deliver real solutions for the North Brooklyn community!”
State Senate District 59 was created in May as a result of a Republican challenge to the state’s maps, which were redrawn earlier this year. It is the state’s first triborough legislative district.
“As Brooklyn Borough President, I understand the job of representing the many diverse communities across my district to deliver the change that our neighborhoods need,” said Borough President Antonio Reynoso. “I’m endorsing Kristen Gonzalez today because she’s the best candidate in this race to represent the communities of Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. I know she’ll fight to deliver affordable housing, healthcare, and a Green New Deal to working people across all three boroughs.”
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Kristen Gonzalez is a Queens native, tech worker, and community organizer who announced her run for state senate in February, recruited by the Democratic Socialists of America. She was raised in Elmhurst by a single mother from Puerto Rico, where she got a scholarship to an elite private high school on the Upper East Side at 12. The experience navigating working-class Queens and upper-class Manhattan led her to fights for social justice, from working in the Obama White House to organizing campaigns against Amazon and for climate action, public ownership, and COVID relief.
Gonzalez has secured more than twenty endorsements from organizations, unions, and electeds including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Working Families Party (WFP), Cynthia Nixon, candidate for Lt. Governor Ana María Archila, City Council Member Tiffany Cabán, State Senator Julia Salazar, and Assemblymembers Emily Gallagher and Zohran Mamdani.
Other endorsements include New York Communities for Change (NYCC), Make the Road, The Jewish Vote, Churches United for Fair Housing (CUFFH), Met Council, New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), Muslim Democratic Club of New York (MDCNY), No IDC, Downtown Women for Change, Sunrise NYC, youth group TREEAGE, State Senator Jabari Brisport, Assemblymember Phara Souffrant-Forrest, Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes, City Council Member Chi Ossé, and City Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez.
New York State Senate District 59 includes Long Island City and Astoria in Queens; Greenpoint in Brooklyn; and Stuyvesant Town and Kips Bay in Manhattan. Gonzalez lives in Long Island City.
