We're excited to announce our endorsements today of Diana Moreno and Keith Powers, who are running in special elections on February 3rd to fill two vacant seats in the New York State Assembly. Early voting is already underway and continues through Sunday with varying hours, and polls will be open on Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Registered voters in the 36th and 74th Assembly Districts can find links to their early voting and election day polling sites near the bottom of this page.

And now, more about our endorsees.

Diana Moreno, 36th Assembly District, Queens (Open Seat) – Diana Moreno, a union and immigrant organizer and working mother of a one-year-old, is our pick to succeed Zohran Mamdani as the Assemblymember representing Astoria and Long Island City.

Ms. Moreno, who has earned the Democratic Party, Working Families Party, and NYC-DSA nominations for the special election, told us she's committed to leading on issues of traffic safety. A regular cyclist before she became a mother, she primarily gets around the city by subway and bus.

She rallied with advocates last December against the court decision ordering New York City DOT to remove a portion of Queens's 31st Street bike lane, and told us that she was deeply affected by the hit-and-run death of Amanda Servedio in 2024, which occurred near her home. She's a fan of the 31st Avenue Open Street, which is also close to where she lives.

Like the previous Assemblymember, Ms. Moreno believes that government should be a force for improving people's lives, including in systemically changing the way our streets are designed in order to prevent traffic crashes. She noted that the tragic death of Dolma Naadhun in the district three years ago gave rise to the campaign for universal daylighting in New York City, an effort she strongly supports.

She's open to pushing for reforms to the Department of Motor Vehicles, including the possibility of periodic retesting of drivers, and expressed concerns about the potential for proposed auto-insurance reforms to negatively impact crash victims. She also told us she would have no problem pushing back against legislation seeking to require licensing and registration for e-bikes, citing both barriers to usage and the effect on immigrant delivery workers, and believes a better approach would be to more effectively regulate delivery-app companies and prevent the sale of illegal e-motos.

Keith Powers, 74th Assembly District, Manhattan (Open Seat) – Keith Powers, who recently completed his second of two terms in the City Council, is our choice to succeed Harvey Epstein in this Assembly district representing Manhattan's east side.

A four-time StreetsPAC endorsee, Mr. Powers has been a reliable advocate for walking, biking, and public transit. He delivered on a number of transportation-related campaign promises while in the Council, including the extension of Sixth Avenue's protected bike lane 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, which was launched last year, and was a key supporter of NYC DOT's complete-street redesign of 3rd Avenue.

While campaigning for Borough President last year, Mr. Powers 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 Assembly's oversight role with the MTA. He also leveraged his influence over the Midtown South Mixed-Use rezoning proposal to compel the Adams administration to move forward with the 34th Street busway project.

If elected to the Assembly, Mr. Powers is committed to working to strengthen mechanisms for getting repeat dangerous drivers off the streets, and to ensuring that victims of traffic violence are not affected negatively by proposed insurance-reform efforts. He also pledges to oppose any efforts to require registration and licensing of Class I and II e-bikes.

Mr. Powers's opponent in the special election, Joseph Foley, an entrepreneur and small-business owner, regular transit rider, and dedicated cyclist, impressed us with his energy and thoughtfulness about transportation issues, but we believe Keith Powers is best prepared to serve the people of the 74th Assembly District.

A note about the Special Election for Manhattan's 47th State Senate District seat

We did not receive questionnaires from either candidate contesting the special election to succeed new Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal in the State Senate, which is likely due to the compressed timetable around the election and what would appear to be the lopsided nature of the race between sitting Democratic City Council Member Erik Bottcher and Republican candidate Charlotte Friedman. Mr. Bottcher has been a solid ally in the Council, and we expect he will win handily.