NYC-DSA ENDORSES ILLAPA SAIRITUPAC FOR STATE ASSEMBLY District 65
NYC-DSA ENDORSES ILLAPA SAIRITUPAC FOR STATE ASSEMBLY
The socialist challenger joins Diana Moreno, Christian Celeste Tate, Eon Huntley, Aber Kawas, Conrad Blackburn, David Orkin, and more on the NYC-DSA Slate
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 9, 2026
CONTACT: press@socialists.nyc, (917) 261-5939
NEW YORK, NY, March 9, 2026 — New York City Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA) has endorsed Illapa Sairitupac for New York State Assembly District 65, expanding the surging organization’s slate of state legislative races to 15 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.
Illapa Sairitupac will be vying for the open seat in Assembly District 65 in Manhattan, comprising the Lower East Side, Chinatown and parts of the East Village and Financial District. Illapa is a tenant organizer and works with a coalition to protect New Yorkers from ICE in our city. His campaign has already been endorsed by Tenants PAC and Met Council Action and will focus on housing, saving our neighbors from an increasingly dangerous federal government, and climate.
“We are extremely proud of the work NYC-DSA put into Illapa’s last campaign, mobilizing over one thousand volunteers to knock over 60k doors,” said NYC-DSA Chapter Co-Chair Grace Mausser. “It was a foundational building block to cement crucial relationships between us and other organizations and communities in the district, laying the groundwork for Zohran’s mayoral victory last year. Illapa has remained a steadfast member of our organization, contributing his time and energy to bringing many new members into our project and their wider communities. We are thrilled to have a tenant, climate, and immigration organizer leading in AD-65.”
“New York is ours. The Lower East Side, Chinatown, Little Italy, Alphabet City, and the Seaport deserve a representative in Albany who will tax the rich, protect and empower tenants, stand up to the Trump regime, and get ICE out of New York”, said Illapa. “This district is where socialism began in our country and we have a huge opportunity to win.”
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 14,000+ members and activists who are working together to build a democratic socialist organization in the five boroughs.