State Assemblymember Claire Valdez is running for New York’s 7th Congressional District, with the endorsement of Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Senator Bernie Sanders.
Valdez currently represents state Assembly District 37, which covers Sunnyside, Long Island City, Ridgewood, Woodside and Maspeth. But her decision to run for Congress was prompted by her labor union.
“It wasn't an easy decision, to be totally honest, you know, I was asked by a number of people, kind of within my union within the movement that I come out of, to consider doing it,” Valdez said.
Like Mamdani, Valdez is a Democratic Socialist who believes in transit, unions and housing for all.
As a union member herself, Valdez supports employees having the right to have control over their work conditions, wages and stronger benefits.
“Unions don't just raise our wages and win good benefits, they build our democracy,” she said. “When union density is high, democratic participation is high, CEO pay is much lower, and economic disparities are lower.”
If elected, she would strengthen the Protecting the Right to Organize Act and ensure people have livable wages.
But a unifying district issue that Valdez has seen is housing.
“People are really worried about being priced out of our neighborhood,” she said. “New York-7 has experienced rapid development and gentrification over the last 20-30 years, and it's a real problem.”
Valdez plans to keep landlords accountable and give tenants the power to have universal rent control, and give people the right to a safe home.
But her plans reach beyond the congressional district, which covers Bushwick, Clinton Hill, Downtown Brooklyn, East New York, East Williamsburg, Fort Greene, Greenpoint and Williamsburg in Brooklyn. Valdez said she wants to rebuild Puerto Rico for its people and continue the work of out-going Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, who has been an advocate for the island.
As a United States territory, Puerto Rico faces many challenges, including expensive food and fuel prices, a fragile economic grid and threats of privatization, and should have an "opportunity for self-determination for the people on the island to decide, how they want, how they want their island to be governed,” she said.
As the June 23 primary election approaches, Valdez said the nation is facing a critical point.
“We're in a really dire moment. We have a fascist in the White House, a climate denier in the White House, somebody who is attacking our immigrant neighbors, our trans siblings, and we need, we need an organizer,” she said.
The district was built by immigrants, Valdez explained, as 32.2% of its residents are foreign-born. She plans to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement, prosecute agents who have broken the law or used excessive force, and make a new path to citizenship.
With Valdez’s plan to create a safer, affordable and cleaner city, she hopes this will allow New York artists who once lived in the district to come back.
“When we have working class artists of color, people who are here making work about this really beautiful city that we all live in, I think it's such a like detriment to the kind of vibrant culture and beauty of New York City,” she said.
Other issues Valdez hopes to tackle in Congress are reproductive safety, trans liberation and artificial intelligence safety.
“I think this is a moment to send, you know, a unionist, a democratic socialist, and an organizer to Congress to take on not just Trump, but the oligarchy and the billionaires who have brought us to this point,” Valdez said.
