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Several members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) appear to be lining up to clinch Zohran Mamdani’s New York State Assembly seat after the 34-year-old stunned the political landscape to become the city’s next mayor.
Rana Abdelhamid, an Egyptian American and Muslim community organizer, has filed to run for Assembly District 36, the western Queens district that covers the Astoria neighborhood, according to City & State, citing state Board of Elections records.
Meanwhile, DSA leaders have already recruited former Queens DSA co-chair Diana Moreno to run for the seat, while local reports indicate that Mary Jobaida, a past candidate for a neighboring district, may also run.
Abdelhamid is a member of the New York City chapter of the DSA. The chapter is the largest in the country, with more than 11,200 members, including Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. Tiffany Cabán, the Astoria neighborhood’s city council member, is also a DSA member.
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A DSA win in this race would mark another step in the group’s growing influence over New York politics.
Abdelhamid previously mounted a 2022 primary challenge against then-Rep. Carolyn Maloney, whose district included both the Upper East Side and western Queens. She dropped out of the race after the district’s boundaries were redrawn to exclude Queens, the outlet reported.
Abdelhamid is deeply involved with the Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) community in Astoria and helped lead a successful push for the state to collect more accurate demographic data on MENA communities, according to City & State.
She also founded a women’s self-defense organization called Malikah and previously told the outlet that she grew up in Astoria, in a part of the neighborhood nicknamed “Little Egypt.”
Sources told the outlet that Moreno will likely receive the DSA endorsement.
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Moreno, who also lives in Astoria, was co-chair of NYC-DSA’s Queens branch from 2021 to 2023 and served as the organization’s communications coordinator from 2023 to 2024. She is also the former deputy director of the immigrant advocacy group New Immigrant Community Empowerment.
“I’m preparing to run for Zohran’s Assembly seat so our future mayor has an unwavering ally in Albany committed to helping him deliver an affordable NYC!” Moreno posted on Instagram two weeks ago, sharing a story about her candidacy on City & State.
“As a Queens mom, an immigrant organizer, and a democratic socialist, I’m ready to fight for the working people of Queens! LET’S WIN THIS.”
Moreno said she was initially approached by the DSA to run but declined, citing the demands of traveling to Albany, given that she has a young child.
She said she had changed her mind because of what she described as the Trump administration’s “rising authoritarianism” and a need to deliver for working families in her district. Her top legislative priority is free and universal child care.
Moreno’s profile shows her participating in several pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the city.
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