We're thrilled today to announce our endorsements of 17 candidates running in November's general election for the New York State Legislature, five for State Senate and a dozen for the Assembly. They join the 21 winning candidates whom we endorsed ahead of June's primary election in forming a slate that includes races across the entirety of New York State, from Suffolk County to Erie County, the first time we've endorsed in races statewide.

This new group of endorsees includes seven incumbents, five candidates challenging sitting officeholders, and five candidates vying for open seats. Building upon our statewide success in June's primaries – we backed winning candidates in the Hudson Valley, Syracuse, Utica, and Buffalo – nearly two-thirds of our newly endorsed candidates are running for seats on Long Island or in upstate districts.

We began in earnest to look at races across the state in 2024, and the number of candidate questionnaire responses we received from beyond New York City has more than quadrupled this year. We've expanded the scope of our work for two reasons. First, many of New York City's most important street-safety and transportation measures, including our speed and red-light camera programs and MTA funding, require state legislative approval; and secondly, cities, towns and villages across New York State stand to benefit from complete-streets initiatives, reduced speed limits, and development of multi-use paths, among many other policies.

In-person early voting for the November 3 general election begins on Saturday, October 24, which is also the deadline to register if you are not already a registered voter. If you live within New York City's five boroughs, you can check your registration status, confirm your early-voting and election-day polling locations, and find other important election-related information at vote.nyc. If you live elsewhere in New York State, you can find similar information at elections.ny.gov. We've included links to Ballotpedia entries, which include maps, for each of the districts in which we're endorsing, listed in the individual endorsement statements that follow below.

Early voting will continue daily through Sunday, November 1, with varying hours, in advance of election day on November 3, when polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. You can confirm your early-voting and election day voting sites, which may be different, and check early-voting hours at findmypollsite.vote.nyc if you vote in New York City, and at voterlookup.elections.ny.gov if you vote anywhere else in New York State.

We couldn't be more excited about this slate of candidates, both in the degree of their commitment to the issues for which StreetsPAC advocates and in the scope of the districts they seek to represent, and we urge you to join us in supporting them. Read on below to learn more about each of our endorsees, including important aspects of their visions for street safety and transportation policy. Candidates are listed below by legislative body (Senate first, then Assembly), and in ascending order by district number. For each of our endorsees, we've included links that will take you directly to information about helping with and/or donating to their campaigns.

2026 State Senate Endorsees: Queens | Brooklyn | Hudson Valley & Upstate NY

New York City

Aber Kawas, 12th State Senate District, Queens (Open Seat) – Aber Kawas, who bested Assemblymember Steven Raga in a hotly contested Democratic primary, is our pick to succeed former Deputy Majority Leader Mike Gianaris as the State Senator representing western Queens's 12th District. A community organizer and advocate for police reform and immigrant rights, Ms. Kawas is committed to efforts to makes buses fast and free, including expanded use of signal priority and the rollout of new busways. She supports universal daylighting and expansion of the MTA's Automated Camera Enforcement program to include ticketing of bike lane infractions, and told us she would support the use of cameras on street sweepers to enforce alternate-side parking violations if she's assured that the data is limited to its intended use. Ms. Kawas will also use her office to support the development of the Interborough Express and to advocate for extension of the G line. You can support Aber Kawas's campaign here.

Andrew Gounardes, 26th State Senate District, Brooklyn (Incumbent) – Andrew Gounardes has distinguished himself as an unrivaled champion of street safety in his eight years in the State Senate. He won office in 2018 with a campaign focused on protecting, and expanding, New York City's life-saving speed camera program – a promise he delivered on – and he's built upon that legacy ever since. In 2024, he sponsored the legislation that quadrupled the city's contingent of red-light cameras, and just this spring, his "Stop Super Speeders" bill requiring the installation of speed-limiting technology in the vehicles of drivers with significant numbers of dangerous driving violations became law. When the new Senate session starts in January, Senator Gounardes intends to work on passing his bill that sets a goal of a statewide 20% reduction in vehicle miles traveled by 2050. You can donate to Andrew Gounardes's re-election effort here.

Hudson Valley & Upstate NY

Joe Rand, 38th State Senate District, Rockland County (Challenger) – Joe Rand, who's currently serving his second term as mayor of the village of Nyack, is challenging incumbent State Senator Bill Weber for the seat representing the 38th District, which covers most of Rockland County. He's a strong believer in municipal control over lowering speed limits and implementing camera enforcement programs, and he thinks there's a lot the state can do to reform the Department of Motor Vehicles to both improve road safety and modernize the customer experience. He supports stricter regulation of Class 3 e-bikes, but opposes licensing and registration of slower Class 1 and 2 e-bikes. If elected, Mr. Rand plans to advocate for significant investment in west-of-Hudson transit, citing the paucity of Metro-North service as a real challenge for Rockland County, and he recently invested village funds in a local electric shuttle-bus pilot program. He supports building more housing around transit routes, and rides a bike regularly. You can sign up to volunteer with Joe Rand's campaign here, and donate here.

Devin Lander, 43rd State Senate District, Rensselaer, Washington & Albany Counties (Challenger) – Devin Lander,  the New York State Historian and a former Assembly staffer, is challenging incumbent State Senator Jacob Ashby for the seat representing the 43rd District, which is largely sandwiched between the Hudson River and the Massachusetts and Vermont borders. He would like to see Capital District Transit Authority bus service expanded throughout Rensselaer County and into Washington County as a means of improving mobility across the district. Mr. Lander expressed support for legislation that would assess a small fee on motor-vehicle registrations to fund upstate transit systems, as well as for Senator Rachel May's bill that would require NYSDOT to update its bicycle and pedestrian plan every five years. He told us he supports removing I-787 along Albany's Hudson River waterfront, and believes that a pedestrian bridge across the river would have significant mobility benefits. You can get involved with Devin Lander's campaign for State Senate here, and make a contribution here.

Samra Brouk, 55th State Senate District, Monroe County & Greater Rochester (Incumbent) – Samra Brouk was one of our first-ever upstate New York endorsees in 2024, and she has earned our endorsement once again as she runs for her fourth term in the State Senate representing a district that includes the eastern half of the City of Rochester. She believes that creating walkable, bikeable communities is essential to developing healthy economies and attracting younger adults, and she strongly supports Mayor Malik Evans's efforts to expand Rochester's bike network. Senator Brouk has been a vocal proponent of the Inner Loop North project, which is rebuilding an area of downtown Rochester that was beset for decades by an urban highway. She has also championed increasing funding for RTS, the public transit system serving Monroe County, which has struggled with a yawning budget gap and service cuts, and is interested in exploring legislation in the coming Senate session that would create a dedicated revenue stream for upstate transit service. She'd also like to see Rochester's bike share system expand, though she would prefer a docked system to the existing dockless model. You can support Samra Brouk's re-election effort here.

2026 State Assembly Endorsees: Long Island | Brooklyn | Manhattan | Hudson Valley & Upstate NY

Long Island

Josh Slaughter, 3rd Assembly District, Suffolk County (Challenger) – Josh Slaughter, a Suffolk County native and the political director for Long Island's Laborers Local 66, is challenging incumbent Joe DeStefano for the seat representing Brookhaven's 3rd Assembly District. He served for 12 years as a chief of staff in the Suffolk County legislature before moving to his union position, where he's fought successfully for work-zone speed cameras. He's an advocate for increased transit funding, which he'd like to see invested in electrification and increased frequency on the Long Island Railroad, and he believes the state needs to make a much greater investment in bus service to enhance north-south connections in Suffolk County. Mr. Slaughter supports making reforms to New York State's Department of Motor Vehicles, including requalifying people with repeated dangerous-driving violations, and is open to the possibility of age-based retesting. He's also supportive of New York City's congestion-pricing program, citing the funding allocation to LIRR improvements as critical. You can volunteer with Josh Slaughter's campaign here, and make a contribution here.

Rebecca Kassay, 4th Assembly District, Suffolk County (Incumbent) – Rebecca Kassay is running for re-election as the Assemblymember representing Long Island's 4th District, which includes Port Jefferson, Stony Brook, and Brookhaven, a seat she won with our endorsement in 2024, narrowly defeating the incumbent. In July, her bill permanently protecting the Setauket-Port Jefferson Station Greenway Trail became law; the legislation also paves the way for the possible creation of a new rail yard to serve eventual electrification of the Long Island Railroad's Port Jefferson branch, which she has championed as a critical step toward reducing driving in her district. When she served as Deputy Mayor of Port Jefferson Village, she commissioned the area's initial complete-streets study, and she's worked with local advocacy groups to promote better infrastructure for walking and biking. Assemblymember Kassay supports efforts to increase the housing supply to help address the affordability crisis, and she passed a bill to enable a land lease that will allow the construction of student and faculty housing near the LIRR station adjacent to Stony Brook University. You can connect with Rebecca Kassay's campaign here, and make a contribution here.

Craig Herskowitz, 12th Assembly District, Suffolk County (Open Seat) – Craig Herskowitz, an attorney and former federal and state official as well as a traffic court judge in New York City, is running for the open seat representing Suffolk County's 12th Assembly District. He says he hears from voters repeatedly about road-safety concerns, and he thinks there's an appetite for traffic calming and targeted camera enforcement. He supports the city's congestion-pricing program and its mobility, environmental, and transit-funding benefits, and believes that alleged Long Island opposition to congestion pricing was a "manufactured issue." He'd like to see revenue from the program invested in electrifying the Long Island Railroad's Port Jefferson branch east of Huntington, and he's pledged to work with Rebecca Kassay to advance that work. He supports transit-oriented development projects and other efforts to make it easier to walk and bike in the district, and is committed to working with StreetsPAC and other advocates on those goals once he's elected. You can volunteer with Craig Herskowitz's campaign here, and donate to his election effort here.

Brooklyn

Robert Carroll, 44th Assembly District, Brooklyn (Incumbent) – Robert Carroll has been stalwart on street-safety and transportation issues during his decade in the Assembly, winning his seat with our endorsement in 2016 and earning our support in every election since. He was one of the most vocal backers of congestion pricing in the legislature, and has been a strong proponent of automated camera enforcement efforts. Assemblymember Carroll is carrying two important bills related to the explosive growth in home delivery: one would require delivery-app companies to provide liability insurance for workers delivering on their behalf, and the other would generate funding for transit improvements by assessing a small tax on package deliveries. He believes that the advent of autonomous vehicles is inevitable, and that New York State should be a leader in regulating and managing their rollout, pointing to the potential benefits for people with mobility issues who might otherwise be homebound or reliant on the under-resourced Access-A-Ride program. You can support Robert Carroll's re-election effort here.

Manhattan

David Siffert, 66th Assembly District, Manhattan (Open Seat) – David Siffert, a civil-rights lawyer and law professor, is in line to succeed Deborah Glick after winning a highly competitive six-way Democratic primary in June. David has had extensive experience with the legislature, helping to draft a number of bills and, notably, filing an amicus brief on behalf of a number of lawmakers in support of congestion pricing. David is supportive of camera-enforcement programs, but with the caveat that reliable privacy guardrails are placed around the storage and safety of data. When it comes to micromobility, David supports phasing out Class 3 e-bikes in New York City, while opposing adding burdensome regulations around Class 1 and 2 e-bikes. David also believes that much more can be done to hold delivery apps accountable for safety, and thinks it would make sense for the serial numbers on Citi Bikes to be more easily readable. As a resident of 14th Street when the busway was first proposed, David bucked many neighbors in supporting the project, and would like to see that model replicated in other parts of the city. And while generally opposed to increasing criminal penalties for driving offenses, David believes there's a strong case for graduated fines and stronger civil penalties for dangerous behavior. David Siffert is running unopposed in November, but you can support their campaign here.

Vanessa Aronson, 73rd Assembly District, Manhattan (Open Seat) – Vanessa Aronson, a non-profit executive and former U.S. diplomat and New York City public school teacher, is running to succeed Alex Bores as the Assemblymember representing this east side district stretching from Murray Hill to Carnegie Hill. She backed congestion pricing prior to its implementation, and will use her position in the Assembly to support improvements in the bus service upon which so many district residents rely. Ms. Aronson believes strongly that many of the concerns around e-bikes could be addressed by regulating delivery app companies and improving infrastructure, and she plans to advocate for crosstown bike lanes with connections through Central Park's transverses, including the Department of Transportation's planned redesign of 72nd Street, which will come to the east side following initial implementation west of the park. Vanessa Aronson is running unopposed in November's general election, but you can donate to her campaign here.

Keith Powers, 74th Assembly District, Manhattan (Incumbent) – Keith Powers is running for his first full term in the Assembly after winning a special election in February to succeed Harvey Epstein in this east side district. Now a six-time StreetsPAC endorsee, Mr. Powers has been a reliable advocate for walking, biking, and public transit. As a New York City Council Member, he delivered on a number of transportation-related campaign promises, including the extension of Sixth Avenue's protected bike lane north to Central Park, the closing of the gap in the Second Avenue bike lane, and the creation of the 14th Street busway. He was the author of the Council bill that created the city's e-bike, moped, and lithium-ion battery trade-in program, supported NYC DOT's complete-street redesign of 3rd Avenue, and used his influence over the Midtown South Mixed-Use rezoning proposal to compel the city to proceed with the 34th Street busway project. While running for Borough President last year, he rode every one of Manhattan's bus routes, and issued a seven-point plan for improving bus service, which will come in handy given the legislature's oversight role with the MTA. Assemblymember Powers is also committed to working to strengthen mechanisms for removing repeat dangerous drivers from city streets. You can support Keith Powers's campaign here.

Hudson Valley & Upstate NY

Dana Levenberg, 95th Assembly District, Putnam & Westchester Counties (Incumbent) – Dana Levenberg is running for her third term as the Assemblymember representing this Hudson Valley district covering portions of Putnam and Westchester Counties, which includes the Town of Ossining, where she served as Town Supervisor before winning her legislative seat in 2022. She has a progressive record on transportation issues, including her support for the implementation of congestion pricing given its importance in funding the Metro-North rail service she considers essential to her constituents. As Ossining Supervisor, she championed the planning of the MOGO Trail, a proposed greenway path that would connect the Empire State Trail to Ossining's train station and bus routes in between. Assemblymember Levenberg is open to introducing legislation that would require periodic retesting of drivers, and opposes creating regulatory hurdles to the growing adoption of Class 1 and 2 e-bikes. She has also partnered with Andrew Gounardes on a complete-streets bill that would prioritize the needs of pedestrians, cyclists, and public transit riders in state and local transportation projects. You can contribute to Dana Levenberg's re-election effort here.

Chloe Pierce, 107th Assembly District, Rensselaer, Washington & Columbia Counties (Challenger) – Chloe Pierce, whom we endorsed in 2024, is running in a rematch with incumbent Assemblymember Scott Bendett for the right to represent this district sandwiched between Albany and the Vermont and Massachusetts borders. A lifelong resident of the Capital Region, she works as a lobbyist who has represented the Trust for Public Lands and clients involved in mobility work, and previously worked for AARP. Though much of the 107th district is rural, there's increasing advocacy in towns like Bethlehem for better bike infrastructure like multi-modal paths that support transportation, recreation, and tourism, which Ms. Pierce heartily supports. While there are local concerns around traffic safety, especially speeding, Ms. Pierce believes the primary transportation issue in the district is the need for better public transit, especially to connect residents with health care facilities and to support the elderly population. She's also supportive of rebooting the effort to extend Metro-North service northward beyond Dutchess County. You can sign up to help with Chloe Pierce's campaign here, and make a donation here.

Dennis Gordon, 117th Assembly District, North Country (Open Seat) – Dennis Gordon, a graphic designer and small business owner, is running to succeed retiring Assemblymember Ken Blankenbush in this North Country district that stretches about 150 miles from north to south. He's the first Democratic candidate to run for the Assembly in the 117th District in well over a decade. Mr. Gordon supports implementing complete-streets policies in many of the district's rural villages, where vehicles are often driven at highway speeds through small downtown areas that lack sidewalks or crosswalks. He believes small municipalities should have the authority to lower local speed limits where state roads pass through, and he bemoans the absence of nearly any public transit serving the area's four counties; residents are either tethered to their cars, or stranded if they're unable, or unable to afford, to drive. Mr. Gordon supports tightening regulations around e-motos, but he wants to encourage access to pedal-assist e-bikes, which he thinks would be beneficial to North Country residents. You can support Dennis Gordon's campaign for Assembly here.

Anna Kelles, 125th Assembly District, Tompkins & Cortland Counties (Incumbent) – Anna Kelles handily earned one of our initial upstate endorsements in 2024, and we're enthusiastic about supporting her run for a fourth term in the Assembly. As chair of the Assembly's Commission on Rural Resources, Dr. Kelles has passed legislation placing a moratorium on certain types of cryptocurrency mining, and she heavily influenced the state's decision to pause development of data centers. She's a fierce advocate for public transit upstate, and she saved Ithaca Carshare by passing a bill that makes it easier for non-profit operators to obtain insurance. Prompted by a question in our 2024 candidate survey, she introduced an Assembly companion to State Senator Rachel May's bill requiring regular updates to the state's bicycle and pedestrian plan, and she has explored legislation that would fund operating assistance for bike-share systems. A regular cyclist herself, Dr. Kelles has twice ended up on the wrong end of car-on-bike crashes. While she's running unopposed in November's general election, you can contribute to Anna Kelles's campaign here.

Kurt VanWuyckhuyse, 134th Assembly District, Monroe County (Challenger) – Kurt VanWuyckhuyse is a native of the 134th Assembly District, which is located to the northwest of Rochester along Lake Ontario. A first-time candidate and the first Democrat to contest the seat in six years, he's facing off against incumbent Josh Jensen in November's general election. Mr. VanWuyckhuyse manages an auto-repair shop, which gives him a unique perspective into car culture. He reached out to us months before we even issued our questionnaire, and the amount of thought and effort he put into completing it was evident in his answers. He's committed to advocating for increased funding for RTS and other upstate transit systems, and he believes that e-bikes, while obviously not the answer for everyone, can contribute greatly to improving mobility in Monroe County. He's excited that parts of the district are beginning to build cycling infrastructure, and he'd like to see additional investments in the Erie Canalway Trail. Mr. VanWuyckhuyse is a strong proponent of automated enforcement – the town of Greece is starting to test cameras – and he supports retesting drivers who reach certain thresholds of moving violations. You can contribute to Kurt VanWuyckhuyse's Assembly campaign here.