Samantha Kattan, a tenant organizer and a member of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), officially launched her campaign Wednesday night to succeed Assembly Member Claire Valdez in the 37th Assembly District.
Valdez, a fellow DSA member, will vacate the seat at the end of the year after launching a campaign to succeed U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez in the soon-to-be-vacant the 7th Congressional District earlier in January.
Kattan filed with the State Board of Elections at the end of December and held an official campaign launch party at the Windjammer in Ridgewood Wednesday evening. Pia Rahman, a former DSA member who recently served as campaign manager for Assembly candidate Brian Romero, has also filed to run for the seat.
Kattan, who picked up the DSA endorsement last week, told QNS on Wednesday that she had rejected several previous approaches to run for office but said she had developed a “different relationship” with the neighborhood since becoming a new mom, which informed her decision to run to succeed Valdez.
“The fact that I’m a new mom has made me feel differently about what I can accomplish and what I’m capable of and what kind of role I’d like to play in the world,” Kattan said.
She touted immigration reform such as passing New York for All, which would prohibit state and local law enforcement from collaborating with federal immigration authorities, and the MELT Act, which would prohibit federal immigration agents from wearing masks, as some of her legislative priorities if she is elected to succeed Valdez.
“I think those have to be some of the first priorities,” she said. “This is such a dire situation. I am horrified to think of what could be happening a year from now if we haven’t passed those laws yet.”
Just as important as passing legislation, Kattan said, would be non-legislative acts such as know your rights events for immigrant residents in the district and supporting rapid response groups in the district, which covers parts of Sunnyside, Long Island City, Maspeth and Ridgewood.
The district is one of the most liberal in the city and forms part of the newly-dubbed “Commie Corridor,” a stretch of neighborhoods in Western Queens and North Brooklyn which Mayor Zohran Mamdani won by a significant margin in the 2025 mayoral election.
Kattan believes the results in the mayoral election demonstrate that people in Western Queens want “far-left representation,” adding that Mamdani’s affordability agenda has created a “lot of energy” in the district.
She said DSA candidates in Western Queens, including Assembly Districts 34, 36, 37 and 38, would be in “lockstep” with the Mayor if they were elected to the State Legislature later in the year.
Almost all DSA candidates are running against traditional progressive candidates who appear ideologically aligned on a number of key issues, but Kattan asserted that DSA candidates’ commitment to running as part of a movement “sets them apart” from traditional progressives.
“We’re not running as ourselves,” she said. “We’re part of a movement that has a broader strategy that relies on having a group of people that are voting as a bloc.
“I think it’s been successful so far, and it’s going to just keep getting more successful the more people that we have.”
As a tenant organizer, Kattan also pledged to fight for legislation that would protect tenants in the district. She touted efforts to protect the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019, which brought in major protections for tenants in rent-stabilized apartments.
Kattan also pledged to fight for the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, which would give tenants an opportunity to purchase their building when a landlord decides to sell. Additionally, Katten intends to provide information about good cause eviction laws to tenants across the district, particularly in Ridgewood, which boasts a high volume of unregulated tenants.
“I also want to get to work on creating new social housing,” Kattan added. “I think that’s sort of the future of housing.”
Kattan is also a major proponent of introducing new progressive taxes on the wealthiest residents in New York State, with a number of “tax the rich” signs adorned around Wednesday night’s packed launch party.
