A new desk and roughly 3,500 emails welcomed Conrad Blackburn when he returned to the Bronx Defenders on July 1. So did his colleagues, usually after a double-take and a look of pleasant surprise, offering words of encouragement. But, as the justice system churns on and waits for no one, a thick stack of files quickly finds him.
Just the week before, Blackburn, the long-time public defender, lost a competitive primary race against incumbent Jordan Wright. Roughly a thousand votes and a few hundred thousand dollars separated their campaigns for Harlem’s Assembly District 70. In the end, Blackburn was the only candidate handpicked on the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) slate who did not advance.
He hides his disappointment well, although it still clearly stings. A week prior, Blackburn showed up to a housing rally fresh off his defeat. His shoulders deflated when reflecting on the race and his cheery demeanor barely masked his dejection. But Blackburn seemed much more in his element back in office, dressed in a t-shirt and shorts on a sweltering July day, which he attributes thankfully to the lax dress code public defenders enjoy outside of the courtroom.
“Everything’s coming back,” said Blackburn, as he eats his breakroom lunch. “I’m trying to get back into the groove and things are flooding back into my head. But it’s good to see all my coworkers and everybody’s been very supportive and encouraging.”
Back in April, Blackburn tentatively bid the Bronx Defenders farewell and embarked on the assembly race’s final leg. In those potential last days before leave, he remained busy representing his colleague’s clients. He points to winning a Crawford hearing — which challenges a protection order — before his sabbatical. All while the race heated up. Days prior, political attacks against him started over an internship at the Florida State Attorney General while Pam Bondi headed the office. They continued for months leading into the primary through mailers sent by opposing political fundraisers.
Yet Blackburn holds no regrets over running for office, even if his political future remains undetermined. He will not attempt a rematch against Wright in the general election as a third-party candidate and still needs to file paperwork declining the Working Families Party’s ballot designation this fall. For now, Blackburn feels content, crediting his campaign for personal and professional growth.
“It makes me a better lawyer, I won the [Crawford] hearing [despite first meeting] the client that day,” he said. “I really learned to take a step back, listen, and feel the emotions of the room in the moment and respond to that emotion. I liked that part of campaigning and really liked talking to people and meeting them where they were at…of course, I wanted to win to address the problems that I saw and heard when I was running.
“But just taking the time to talk to people meant a lot to them because no other politician has done that before [for them]. There was a lot of good that came out of it and in some ways, I learned that this was a calling from so many people. It feels good to be good at something.”
Beyond the courtroom, Blackburn also works as the Bronx Defenders’ policy counsel. His Sen. Bernie Sanders-endorsed campaign largely led with affordability and housing from his personal experience as a Harlem renter in line with fellow DSA member Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s policy agenda. But his true expertise lies in the criminal justice system. Notably, Blackburn was a key architect behind Local Law 42 of 2024, a solitary confinement ban in city jails. So he will still shape criminal justice reform efforts in Albany, even without political office.
For one, unfinished business remains with the Communities Not Cages coalition, which champions state bills to eliminate mandatory minimums and allow judges to reconsider excessive sentences. Blackburn serves on the campaign’s steering committee and expressed his excitement about returning to such advocacy. Some of those bills seem close to passing and draw important proponents.
“Conrad is smart and engaged and strategic,” said Center for Community Alternatives director of advocacy and organizing Katie Schaffer. “He will be back in the campaign and the coalition, helping to actively advance these bills from the advocate side.”
Currently, Communities Not Cages backs three bills. The Marvin Mayfield Act would end mandatory minimums, which threaten defendants with high sentencing forms in order to coerce pleas. The Second Look Act grants courts the discretion to shorten longer, unfair sentences to encourage rehabilitation and boasts a notable proponent in Rowan Wilson, the state’s highest judge. The Earned Time Act allows all people incarcerated in state prisons to accumulate expanded “good time” and “earned time” to reward productive behavior behind bars with potential early release or parole.
Blackburn also points to advocacy on the back foot. Existing criminal justice reforms like Raise the Age face rollback threats after successfully weakening bail reform and attempting the same against discovery reform. He recounts “whispers” around another upcoming fight to protect these laws.
His return coincides with expiring collective bargaining agreements among several public defense organizations across the city, including the Bronx Defenders. Blackburn played a significant role in originally organizing and forming the union shop. He still serves on its executive board. But when the dust settles, Blackburn plans on scaling back his involvement. “I’ve been in the thick of it for a while,” he said wearily. “It’s time for me to step back and let other people step up.”
Despite the strenuous work-life balance of a working public defender, Blackburn intends to maintain his on-the-ground advocacy in Harlem after the campaign. Mostly through DSA, he says, although he would love to bridge the fast-rising organization with existing Black socialist groups. Throughout his campaign, Blackburn platformed Black leftists like democratic socialist labor leader A. Philip Randolph and communist journalist Marvel Cooke.
He knows nonwhite communities long distrusted left-wing organizers who do not look like them, particularly when they share the face of gentrification. Blackburn himself previously questioned electoral politics and whether groups like DSA could truly serve the Black working class he proudly hails from. Now, he hopes they can see what he does.
“My goal is really to bring the Black left together in Harlem,” said Blackburn. “If we focus people’s energy on the ultimate goal [in] building a more dignified life…if we are separating ourselves along these lines, we are doing [the] fascists and capitalists’ work for them in separating the working class. And we’re much stronger together and in Harlem, that’s gonna have to start with the Black left.”
