David Orkin, a staff attorney with immigration legal services non-profit Make the Road New York, officially launched his campaign to primary Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar in the 38th Assembly District last week, pitting a progressive challenger against a moderate incumbent in a district Mayor Zohran Mamdani comfortably won in the general election last year.
Orkin, a member of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), launched his campaign at the Seneca in Ridgewood on Wednesday, Jan. 7, pledging to protect immigrant New Yorkers, tackle the affordability crisis and advocate for “tax the rich” policies if he is elected to office.
Rajkumar, his opponent, has represented the district since 2021 and is the first South Asian woman ever elected to the New York state legislature.
Orkin touted over a decade of experience in the immigrant rights movement, stating that he has been fighting his “entire life” to change the immigration system and fight for workers.
He received the DSA endorsement in the race at the end of December and has also been endorsed by DRUM Beats, an organization of South Asian community members that helped mobilize support for Mamdani in the 38th District during the mayoral election last year.
Mamdani defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo by 40 points in the district in the Democratic primary last June, and Orkin believes that Mamdani’s campaign reflected a “referendum” on an affordability agenda and a more progressive tax structure.
“When the voters of District 38 voted for Zohran, they weren’t just voting for Zohran,” Orkin said. “They were voting for the affordability agenda and to tax the rich.”
Progressives had long been searching for a candidate to challenge Rajkumar, a more moderate Democrat and a close ally of former Mayor Eric Adams, who has clashed with Mamdani in the past.
Orkin said he was inspired to run for the district because of what he described as Rajkumar’s failures to react to the needs of her constituents.
“I’ve seen how much these community members need desperate change and how there are such tangible, real things that a politician could do, that establishment politicians like the incumbent aren’t doing,” Orkin said. “We just have such a unique and incredible opportunity right in this moment to create better conditions and better laws for working people.”
Orkin outlined three legislative priorities if he is elected to Albany, including working to tackle the affordability crisis, increasing labor protections and doing “everything we can on a state level” to protect immigrant communities from ICE.
He further criticized Rajkumar for failing to support the New York for All Act, which would prohibit state and local law enforcement agencies from collaborating with ICE. Orkin described New York for All as the “starting point” of efforts to protect immigrant communities from federal immigration authorities, adding that he would like to see an end to data-sharing practices between state agencies and the federal government as the ultimate goal.
He also supports placing heavier restrictions on data brokers by preventing private companies from selling user data to the federal government.
Rajkumar’s campaign pushed back strongly against Orkin, describing the incumbent Assembly Member as a “relentless leader on affordability” and “New York’s foremost champion of immigrant rights.”
Rajkumar’s campaign pointed to her role as Director of Immigration Affairs for New York State, where she helped build the Liberty Defense Project, a “first-in-the-nation” $31 million project to assist immigrants in obtaining pro-bono legal services. Her campaign also stated that Rajkumar supports New York for All, although Rajkumar is not currently a sponsor of the legislation in the state legislature.
“She also led our State’s charge against the first Trump administration’s discriminatory immigration policies, including opposing his Muslim ban and defending New Yorkers from unlawful federal enforcement actions,” Rajkumar’s campaign said in a statement.
Her campaign also touted efforts to address affordability by attempting to lower prescription drug costs and by working to pass Medicare for All.
“Her work has consistently focused on protecting immigrant communities while strengthening public trust, public safety and community stability,” Rajkumar’s campaign said.
Still, NYC-DSA Electoral Working Group Electoral Coordinator Álvaro López described Rajkumar’s politics as “self-serving” and said the organization is “proud” to endorse Orkin in the race.
“As a trusted leader in Queens, a fierce defender of immigrant and labor rights, and an active NYC-DSA member, David is answering the call to serve his community in the face of vicious attacks by the federal government,” López said in a statement. “Our members voted to endorse David through a rigorous, democratic endorsement process and are ready to reject Jenifer Rajkumar’s self-serving politics.”
Orkin, meanwhile, criticized Rajkumar for not supporting a progressive tax on New York’s wealthiest residents to help support Mamdani’s affordability agenda, which included free buses, universal childcare and a rent freeze. Speaking shortly after Mamdani defeated Cuomo in the November general election, Rajkumar was non-commital about Mamdani’s tax policies and called on the Mayor to explore other ways to fund the agenda outside of taxing the rich, alleging that doing so would hurt the state’s competitiveness or drive jobs away.
She told the New York Post that she was committed to “working with” Mamdani to explore different ways to fund his affordability agenda.
Orkin, on the other hand, described capital flight as a myth and asserted that the state’s wealthiest residents would not leave because of a small tax increase.
“It (taxing the rich) is the commonsense solution to so many of the problems that our working class is facing right now,” Orkin said. “I think that everyone has something to gain from taxing the rich except for the very, very, very few people.
“To all of the tech billionaires and oligarchs out there, I want to tell them directly; after we’ve been taxing you, I promise from the bottom of my heart, you will still be richer than everybody else.”
He added that the state could fund Mamdani’s affordability agenda with the “snap of its fingers” if it enacted a progressive tax on the richest residents in the state. Several other DSA members in Albany, including State Sen. Kristen Gonzalez and Assemblymember Claire Valdez, have also announced support for a tax increase.
DRUM Beats organizer Andrew Singh said the group had endorsed Orkin because the 38th Assembly District remains “vulnerable” to Rajkumar’s “alignment with billionaires and their interests.”
“It is imperative that we continue to strengthen our bases with progressive allies in the state government who will co-govern with our working class communities and in our interests,” Singh said in a statement announcing the group’s endorsement.
Orkin has pledged to build a campaign built on “community-focused governance,” promising to eschew contributions from fossil fuel, real estate or corporate lobbying interest groups.
