NYC-DSA ENDORSES CLAIRE VALDEZ FOR CONGRESS IN NY-7 AND SAMANTHA KATTAN FOR ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 37
A union organizer and elected socialist leader, Valdez’s campaign will strengthen the connections between organized labor and the insurgent left in New York City
Tenant organizer Kattan will focus on housing and affordability in bid to replace Valdez in Assembly
Endorsements commit NYC-DSA’s over 13,000 members to volunteer, fundraise, and organize for Valdez and Kattan
Contact: press@socialists.nyc
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK, NY, January 23, 2026 — New York City Democratic Socialists of America announced today its endorsement of Claire Valdez for Congress in NY-7. With this endorsement, Valdez’s campaign will be powered by the same volunteer army that propelled Mayor Zohran Mamdani to victory in 2025. NY-7 residents voted for Mamdani over disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo in the mayoral primary by a 43-point margin, the highest of any district in the city, and the area has a proud history of socialist organizing among both native-born and immigrant workers.
Valdez is the only candidate running in NY-7 who has committed to not taking money from the real estate industry.
NYC-DSA also announced its endorsement of tenant organizer Samantha Kattan for Assembly District 37, which is currently represented by Valdez. Kattan brings over a decade of organizing and advocating for tenants’ rights and is the seventh candidate NYC-DSA has added to its socialist slate for Assembly in 2026.
“This neighborhood belongs to working people. We deserve a leader who stands with workers instead of dividing them based on where they’re from or what language they speak,” said NYC-DSA Co-Chair Gustavo Gordillo. “Claire knows what it’s like to work a low-wage job, working more and more but somehow still landing under forty hours a week. She found power in her union as an organizer, and she brought that approach with her to Albany as a champion for workers’ rights. Now, NYC-DSA is ready to send her to Congress to keep up that fight. Together, this district can lead the nation to fight for workers’ dignity, abolish ICE’s police state, and fund healthcare and housing instead of the genocide in Palestine.”
“New Yorkers are being priced out of our city by a real estate industry that sees our communities as commodities. We need a tenant advocate like Samanatha Kattan to take the fight to Albany to keep New Yorkers in their homes, build affordable housing, and guarantee universal childcare,” said NYC-DSA Co-Chair Grace Mausser. “Samantha understands that real change isn’t about just electing one person — it’s about building a movement that can stand up to the corrupt political establishment and the millionaires who control our politics and economy. NYC-DSA has already shown what is possible with a socialist bloc in Albany, and we’re ready to send Samantha to the Assembly to fight alongside this movement.”
“NYC-DSA has spent years building real power in this city—block by block, winning big fights, and proving that our politics deliver, all the way to City Hall. I wasn’t just a witness to that work. I was part of it, as a rank-and-file member, a chapter leader, and a legislator in Albany. Now it’s time to carry that organizing forward in Congress, and I’m proud to do it with my political home and the people who built this movement together,” said NYC-DSA endorsed candidate for NY-07 and assemblymember Claire Valdez.
“I couldn’t be more proud to be endorsed by DSA, my political home for the last decade. I’m ready to continue growing the socialist movement in Assembly District 37, partner with other socialists in office to deliver on Mayor Mamdani’s agenda, and to build a Queens that truly works for working people,” said NYC-DSA endorsed candidate for AD-37 Samantha Kattan.
NY-7 is a historic and critical district for progressive politics in New York City. This is the district that elected the first Puerto Rican woman to Congress, and took down a political machine in the process. Nydia Velázquez has spent decades fighting for the working class in New York and across the country. With her backing, and due to the work of hundreds of organizers across the district, NY-7 delivered the largest margin of victory in the mayoral primary for democratic socialist, Mayor Zohran Mamdani. It’s a district with a long legacy of fighting for the working class, and Claire is the candidate to expand that legacy.
NYC-DSA endorses candidates through a robust democratic process, in which potential candidates appear before members of the chapter’s electoral arm to discuss their campaigns and answer questions. Following endorsement forums, candidates’ applications for endorsement are voted on by forum attendees, the relevant branches (in this case, North Brooklyn and Queens), and chapter leadership. Valdez’s and Kattan’s endorsement applications received over 90% of the vote at each stage of the process.
In addition to Valdez and Kattan, NYC-DSA has endorsed six other candidates for the 2026 cycle. All six of the endorsed candidates qualified for matching funds by the first filing deadline.
ABOUT CLAIRE VALDEZ: Assemblymember Claire Valdez is a union organizer, artist and proud democratic socialist. A dual citizen of the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Nation and the United States, she worked low-wage customer service jobs through high school, college and after. As a worker at Columbia University, she joined UAW Local 2110, was elected to the bargaining committee, and organized to democratize her union. A longtime leader in NYC-DSA, Claire serves in the New York State Assembly, where she has fought to tax the rich, protect tenants, and empower working people.
ABOUT SAMANTHA KATTAN: Samantha Kattan is a tenant organizer, working parent, and democratic socialist running to represent District 37 in the New York State Assembly. In Albany, Samantha will fight to tax the rich to pay for a fairer and more affordable New York; deliver well-funded, universal childcare available to working families; and stand up for tenants by protecting rent stabilization and building social housing.
ABOUT NYC-DSA: New York City Democratic Socialists is the local chapter of Democratic Socialists of America—the largest socialist organization in the United States with over 95,000 members. NYC-DSA is run by its 13,000+ members and activists who are working together to build a democratic socialist organization in the five boroughs.