NYC-DSA ENDORSES ABER KAWAS, CONRAD BLACKBURN, AND DAVID ORKIN FOR STATE ASSEMBLY
NYC-DSA ENDORSES ABER KAWAS, CONRAD BLACKBURN, AND DAVID ORKIN FOR STATE ASSEMBLY
The socialist challengers join Diana Moreno, Christian Celeste Tate, and Eon Huntley on NYC-DSA Slate, with more expected to join.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 23, 2025
CONTACT: press@socialists.nyc, (917) 261-5939
NEW YORK, NY, December 22, 2025 — New York City Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA) has endorsed three more socialist challengers for New York State Assembly, expanding the surging organization’s slate of state legislative races to six proudly socialist candidates.
By endorsing these socialist challengers, NYC-DSA is committing its over 13,000 members to volunteer for these campaigns—meeting New Yorkers at their doors through canvassing and countering the rich establishment’s deep pockets through robust small donor outreach. The three challengers have already raised a total of $45,000 across their three races.
In Harlem, public defender and union organizer Conrad Blackburn will take on the Wright dynasty by running for Assembly District 70 against incumbent nepo-baby Jordan Wright. Blackburn’s campaign, already endorsed by the powerful UAW union, in which he is an active organizer, will highlight the cost of living crisis that is pushing Harlemites out of their homes and stand up where the district has suffered from bad landlords, polluting companies, and Trump’s cruel attacks on immigrants.
In Queens’ Assembly District 38, David Orkin will challenge incumbent Jenifer Rajkumar, a close ally of disgraced Mayor Eric Adams. Orkin is a workers’ rights attorney who has been organizing in the immigrant rights movement for over a decade. Dedicating his life to fighting for immigrants and workers, Orkin will take that fight to Albany by fighting to tax the rich to fund universal child care, healthcare, and fast and free buses, working to protect our communities from ICE, and raising labor standards for all.
Community organizer Aber Kawas will run to succeed Jessica González-Rojas in Assembly District 34, which encompasses Astoria, Corona, East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, and Woodside in Queens. Aber is a Palestinian New Yorker with a long record organizing for justice for working people and immigration justice, and she was a leader in the effort to pass then-Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani’s Not On Our Dime legislation. Kawas will fight for affordability for all New Yorkers, protect immigrant families and stand up to ICE, and work to fund public transit to make buses fast, safe, and free.
“When we elected Zohran Mamdani as our next mayor, we defeated a political dynasty and showed the billionaire oligarchs that working people can and will lead this city,” said NYC-DSA Chapter Co-Chair Gustavo Gordillo. “But the work isn’t done, and we’re not stopping at City Hall. We’re proud to endorse Aber, Conrad, and David to continue this fight in Albany, making New York affordable for the working people who built this city and fighting Trump’s cruel attacks on our neighborhoods. The corrupt establishment has failed us — pricing New Yorkers out of their homes and doing nothing to fight the fascist far right. Democratic socialist candidates like our slate know how to build the affordable city that New Yorkers have been demanding, and we’re not going to let the billionaires and their tools in Albany call the shots any longer.”
“I’m not running because I think power is owed to me,” said NYC-DSA candidate Conrad Blackburn. “I’m running because I want to help return power to the people of Harlem.”
“Queens needs representatives dedicated to protecting their neighbors, not their political careers,” said NYC-DSA candidate David Orkin. “I’m running for Assembly in AD38 because we deserve a representative who knows the everyday challenges we face and who has worked on the ground to protect our communities from ICE, corporate corruption, and rising rents. I’m ready to bring my lifelong fight for working immigrants to the halls of Albany.”
“I’m proud to run as a democratic socialist, and I am honored to be endorsed by NYC-DSA alongside a slate of other brilliant candidates who share my belief that all New Yorkers should have what they need in order to live a free and dignified life,” said NYC-DSA candidate Aber Kawas. “As democratic socialists in office, we have the power to make this a reality in every single neighborhood, to stand together for freedom and dignity for immigrants, justice for Palestinians, and an affordable New York for all.”
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. These endorsement forums, attended by hundreds of members in person and virtually, are vibrant spaces for political deliberation that stand in stark contrast to the backroom dealing that characterizes the oligarch-controlled major parties. Following endorsement forums, candidates’ applications for endorsement are voted on by forum attendees, the relevant branches, and chapter leadership.
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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 85,000 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.