This race is too close for us to call — vote Bores or Lasher to elect an abundance champion

We are excited to endorse Lasher and Bores on their own merits, but also because either would be so much better than the alternatives. Jack Schlossberg is woefully underqualified and has crossed the line from ambition and optimism to selling snake oil to voters, most disappointingly in rallying NYCHA residents against a much-needed redevelopment plan.

Lasher has a long record of distinguished public service. Before his election to the Assembly last year, he served as Governor Hochul's policy director, chief of staff to former Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, on former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s intergovernmental team, and as an aide to Nadler. In the Governor’s office, he helped craft the New York Housing Compact, a desperately needed measure that would have dramatically aided the state’s housing crisis, but ultimately failed in the legislature. In the Assembly, he passed legislation to consistently tax clean energy projects, which prevents localities from taxing renewable development out of viability, and co-sponsored SEQRA reform and transit-oriented development legislation. We were impressed by Lasher’s fluency in the wide range of federal levers that would make an impact on our issues. Lasher has also repeatedly told difficult truths in this race when many of his opponents, except Bores, engage in wishful thinking, including regarding a controversial NYCHA project and, separately, the likelihood of the Senate voting to impeach Trump.

Both Bores and Lasher would be much better in Congress than any of their opponents. We cannot recommend one over the other at this time, but we may revisit as the race continues.

González-Rojas's detailed climate platform, stronger campaign position, and engagement on our issues make her our recommendation over a creditable incumbent

Jessica González-Rojas was first elected to the Assembly in 2020, defeating an incumbent in the primary. In this race she boasts an impressive endorsement coalition: the WFP, Brad Lander, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Her Seven-Point Climate Resilience Plan is the most detailed climate platform of any candidate we have researched this cycle, covering flood infrastructure, heat resilience, transit investment, green jobs, and interagency coordination. She responded to our questionnaire and agreed with our positions.

Lee is not our ideal candidate, but Niou is worse

In her limited time in the Assembly, Lee has a mixed record. We have not seen Lee sponsor important housing and streetscape bills that abundance-aligned peers have supported. While she supported congestion pricing, she pushed for a carveout that would have weakened the program. Still, she has sponsored some important climate-related bills, like the ASAP Act, that would accelerate solar energy production and she has secured funding for NYCHA.

Kessler's record building the abundance movement and his developed platform on housing supply, homelessness, climate resilience, and government delivery make him the best choice in this race

Editor’s note: One of the candidates in this race, Ryder Kessler, is the co-founder and former Co-Executive Director of Abundance New York. He stepped down from his role prior to announcing his run, and he has not been involved in the process of evaluating candidates (in this race or any other). He was offered the same opportunities as other candidates to submit a questionnaire and participate in an interview. As with all candidates, we are assessing him on the strength of his responses, his campaign’s viability, and his prior leadership experience.

Kessler ran against Glick in 2022 on a platform of housing supply, pedestrian street reallocation, and clean energy deployment—and netted 30% of the vote against a 30-year incumbent, before "abundance" was part of the political vocabulary. Since then, he co-founded Abundance New York, helped build the intellectual and organizing infrastructure behind the movement, and released a more developed 2026 platform: upzoning paired with service delivery reforms, policies to lower the cost of building, and an energy strategy that combines fossil fuel regulation with building more clean energy. Kessler has outraised his opponents and netted a varied set of endorsements, including the WFP, several unions, Open New York, Stonewall Democratic Club, and Comptroller Mark Levine.

Ayala's leadership experience and abundance leanings position her strongly against a lackluster incumbent

A fourth challenger, Diana Ayala, is the strongest. Ayala did not go through our questionnaire and interview process, but her record in the City Council—where she represented East Harlem and the South Bronx for eight years, the last four as Deputy Speaker—makes her the most viable abundance-aligned candidate in this race by a significant margin.

On the question of housing supply, Ayala's record is strong. She voted yes on City of Yes for Housing Opportunity in December 2024 and made powerful floor remarks drawing from her experience living in shelters and in NYCHA.

On transit and public space, Ayala’s record is mixed. She has been one of East Harlem's outspoken voices for the Second Avenue Subway Phase 2 extension to 125th Street, and she partnered with DOT to bring Summer Streets to East Harlem for the first time in 2022. On the other hand, she was one of the few progressive voices in support of Governor Hochul’s June 2024 congestion pricing pause. We disagree with this call, and we'd want to push her toward clearer pro-transit positions in Albany, where decisions about MTA funding, bus priority, and street space directly affect what gets built.

Ayala is the pro-abundance choice in Assembly District 68, and her professional and personal experiences will be important assets in an emerging abundance cohort in the legislature.

Both of these candidates embrace abundance ideas for this community and we are excited at each of their approaches

The two candidates running to replace him are Eli Northrup, a public defender and legal director at the Bronx Defenders who ran here in 2024, and Stephanie Ruskay, a rabbi and community organizer making her first run for office. Both support a vision of a New York that builds and delivers more—more housing, more transit capacity, more energy infrastructure, and more (and better) services for New York’s most vulnerable. While we cannot recommend one over the other at this time, we may revisit as the race continues.

Northrup, who has been endorsed by the WFP and a slew of left-leaning electeds and organizations, leads with a platform focused on increasing subsidies and services for New Yorkers, funded by taxing the rich. On transit, he plans to push for better reliability to reduce car dependence. On the housing front, Northrup has adopted a Mamdani-esque combination of tenant protection and pro-supply policies, emphasizing SEQRA reform, cutting red tape, and transit-oriented development. This latter set of policies has earned him an endorsement from Open New York, in addition to housing groups more focused on demand-side reforms.

Our one hesitation about Northrup is the risk that his instinct to pair every pro-housing policy with affordability requirements could, in practice, make projects harder to build. He is aware of this tension, and said that he doesn't want to let perfect be the enemy of the good.

We acknowledge she falls short relative to Northrup in depth and specificity, but we are excited about how she talks about these issues and believe that she will find an audience.