Three left-leaning Democratic candidates vying for a chance to run for New York’s 7th Congressional District sought to highlight their progressive credentials during a debate Wednesday on Spectrum News NY1, but struggled to clearly distinguish themselves from one another.
This year’s race will not have an incumbent vying for the district, which covers parts of Brooklyn and Queens, including Bushwick, Williamsburg and East New York. U.S. Representative Nydia Velázquez, who was the first Puerto Rican woman to be elected to Congress where she served for over two decades, is not seeking reelection.
In the hour-long debate, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, state Assemblywoman Claire Valdez and Queens City Council Member Julie Won discussed immigration, public transportation and housing and all had similar positions on each issue.
In particular, the candidates were asked about a May incident at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in which the police and protestors clashed after a Nigerian man was taken there for medical care after his arrest by immigration officials. The incident drew questions and criticism about whether New York City Police Department officers helped Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents leave the hospital and area.
“This is a sanctuary city. We are not supposed to be collaborating with the NYPD,” Won said. “No immigrant should fear for their safety when they want to go to the hospital. It should not be truly a choice of life or death in a sanctuary city like New York City.”
Valdez, who has the backing of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, added she believed ICE should be abolished, agreeing that the NYPD should not be cooperating with the agency.
“We have to get rid of this agency, which has only been around for 20 years,” Valdez said. “It’s been militarized under this administration, it’s been responsible for the murder of American citizens and dozens of detainees behind closed doors in deplorable conditions.”
Reynoso, who is endorsed by Velázquez and is a Brooklyn native, has previously made public statements criticizing the NYPD’s collaboration with ICE, also agreed with the other candidates.
“I was there the next day at Wyckoff making sure that the NYPD knew that their role was not to cooperate with ICE,” Reynoso said.
When asked if they support the conversion of public housing from Section 9, or when public housing is owned directly by government entities, to Section 8, a rental subsidy program, the candidates gave mixed responses.
While Won did not say whether she supports or opposes it, she said New York City Housing Authority residents should be more involved in the decision and understand what that change means.
“When you go into privatization of NYCHA, it still displaces them, and they cry and cry, and they come to your office and it’s incredibly heartbreaking to displace someone who’s been living there for three, four generations,” Won said.
Meanwhile, Reynoso said he does not support the conversion of these public housing but says he supports local tenant associations that believe that change would work best for them.
“We cannot relegate people to undignified housing while we try to figure out exactly how we’re going to save NYCHA,” Reynoso said.
All three candidates said they supported the Interborough Express, a 14-mile light rail that would carry an estimated 100,000 to 160,000 weekly riders between Bay Ridge and Jackson Heights.
“We don’t want to have to go to Manhattan to visit our fun neighbors in Queens if you’re in Brooklyn, and vice versa,” Reynoso said. “So, of course, I support it.”
Early voting for the primary starts on June 13, and Primary Election Day is on June 23.
