With New York’s Democratic primary elections wrapped up, and some of the tension between the state’s old-school Democrats and largely younger Democratic Socialists having subsided, there are probably more women of color on their way to office this November alongside longtime incumbents than ever before. An exciting trend, advocates say.
Even though New York City has failed to elect a woman mayor in its 400-year history, there have been shifts in its political hierarchy that see women — especially Black and Brown women — taking center stage at the state and federal levels. They’re using their diverse backgrounds to dominate the conversation and win offices long held by their male counterparts. They are no longer just seeking a seat at the table — they are the ones determining what the conversation at it will be.
According to the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), women make up 30% of major-party nominees for Congress in New York State. In the June primary, incumbent Congressmember Yvette D. Clarke won her primary in the 9th Congressional District with a sweep of 68% of the votes, Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) with 87% in the 14th District, and Congressmember Grace Meng with 56% in the 6th District. A new slate of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) candidates won their elections by defeating incumbents, including Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez.
Although Clarke has been in Congress since 2007, she’s technically represented two districts: the 9th and 11th Districts, which were redrawn to increase the voting power of Black and Latino voters in Central and South Brooklyn. She is also the current chair of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC).
A founding member of the CBC, Brooklyn native Shirley Chisholm changed the game when she was elected to the House of Representatives in 1968. She later made a historic run for president in the Democratic primaries in 1972 before Senator George McGovern clinched the nomination. Clarke said she is following in the footsteps of women like Chisholm.
“Central Brooklyn overall had been sort of the epicenter in Brooklyn of Black political empowerment, so … my district and Congressman Hakeem Jeffries’s district together … represent one of the largest concentrations of African Americans historically, and in Brooklyn,” said Clarke. “With that came sort of an inheritance, if you will, of service, particularly to Black communities. I was also the beneficiary of a lot of the activism of the late ’60s and early ’70s, when civil rights and Black Power [were] a major push in New York City. As a beneficiary, I sort of took the torch and ran with it.”
Clarke added that she was the only Black woman elected to Congress in 2007, but has noticed in subsequent sessions that more and more Black women were running for office.
“They were doing the work that needs to be done in our communities. We’re probably, in many cases, first- or second-generation elected in those communities. It’s a natural progression in the battle for what our communities need,” she said.
Changing faces and women in politics
At least a number of the city’s Black and Brown voters are showing weariness toward the traditional Democratic machine, but they are also cautious about discarding decades of hard-won political capital. They worry that national groups recruiting “insurgent” Democratic Socialist candidates of color are bypassing established community leaders, but are open to change as the city’s political dynamics and voting blocs shift exponentially.
Clarke, who had a minor DSA challenger — Joshua Bristol — and another Dem candidate — Mike Goldfarb — in the primary, said that changing demographics in any given neighborhood are actually more of the norm than not.
Today, the 9th District consists largely of immigrants from the Caribbean, but Clarke can remember her Jamaican parents being the fourth or fifth Black family on her street in a predominantly Italian, Irish, and Jewish community decades ago. Wanton gentrification remains a problem for her constituents, which is why she’s laser-focused on comprehensive immigration reform, addressing the skyrocketing cost of living, fighting voter suppression, and protecting constitutional rights, she said.
Despite systemic challenges, a record number of Black women have been running for and winning political offices since 2022, according to the CAWP. As a result, a record number of Black women also serve in Congress nationwide, in statewide executive offices, and in state legislatures.
Jean Sinzdak, CAWP’s associate director, posited that younger Democratic and socialist voters crave fresher voices, particularly women of color, in government over the “gerontocracy” and that cultural attitudes about who can lead have shifted to encourage diversity. “We’re definitely seeing more engagement and more women overall, in the aggregate. More women are self-starters and not waiting for the party nod, not waiting to be asked to run for office, which is kind of more traditional,” said Sinzdak. “It’s an interesting moment to think about. What message does that send? It really says that there’s potentially an opportunity for new leadership and new voices in the process that may not have been there before.”
Avila Chevalier, an Afro-Latina Democratic Socialist who once helped organize pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, certainly fits that bill. She is “deeply grateful” for the wide coalition of voters that supported her campaign and wants to see a new vision reflected in government. She’s excited about seeing more women of color — not just in New York but across the country — stepping into leadership roles and running for Congress.
“I think it’s reflective of the fact that for so long, it’s been women of color, but Black women in particular, who have been asked to constantly save this country from itself,” said Avila Chevalier. “What we’re seeing now is a wave of Black women who are saying it’s not enough for us to vote our way out of this crisis; we have to actually be the folks representing our communities to make sure that we can fight for the vision we deserve. I’m so deeply honored to have won the Black vote here [in the 13th District] and the youth vote … I ran on a platform — a vision of babies, not bombs.”
As a newcomer to Congress, Avila Chevalier said she’s going to spend the months until the general election in November coalition-building across the district, “moving as fast as the speed of trust.” She plans on backing several key bills once in office, such as the Houses Over Middle-Class Exploitation Schemes Act (HOMES Act), Tenants’ Right to Organize Act, and Raise the Wage Act of 2025.
“I think one of the things that I’m really excited to build out is a campaign around eradicating childhood poverty,” Avila Chevalier said. “This is a community where 40% of our kids are living in poverty, and we know what the solution to this is. The child tax credit was one of the most significant things that we have done in the history of this country to reduce childhood poverty to historic lows and we need to reinstate it. We need to expand it, making sure that we are fighting for that and not using our tax dollars toward bombing communities abroad.”
When it comes to the parts of the district in Harlem she is set to inherit, Avila Chevalier said she aims to protect Black-owned and immigrant businesses with funding, small loans for green card holders, and making it harder for corporations to buy property and land. She wants to invest in the right to counsel for those in housing court, community land trusts, expanding pathways to homeownership, and a real youth workforce pipeline. She has also promised to prioritize the building of the long-awaited Second Avenue Subway line.
Valdez, who is a fellow Democratic Socialist and is of Native and Mexican American descent, is in a similar position until the general election. As a member of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2110 on Columbia University’s campus, she is elated to see more women like her in office. She said that “the halls of power” have been dominated by “white men” for a long time.
“I think for me, coming out of a union that was primarily women of color organized in the ’80s around ‘pink collar’ issues, like childcare and wage parity, those organizing against racism on Columbia’s campus — that’s where my experience comes from,” said Valdez. “Picking up those same fights that women were leading in the mid-’80s — that’s a powerful experience we will bring to Washington.”
Valdez imagines she will spend the next three months getting to know the district’s unions, leaders, and organizations and their pressing issues. She wants to highlight things like Medicare for all, a higher minimum wage, a jobs guarantee program, prenatal care, and maternal care. Mostly, though, she plans to meet her colleagues in government and do the hard work of finding common ground.
“I think the priority is building relationships across the district, and particularly in places where I didn’t have the strongest support,” said Valdez. “That feels essential to me — to make sure the coalition comes back together and it comes back together stronger.
“I think we need to be fighting for, obviously, abolishing ICE, but also fighting to overturn some of these incredibly racist immigration policies that the Trump administration has put forward, (such as) TPS and capping the number of refugees allowed to enter the country and from which countries,” she added. “I think that’s going to be a big fight … I’m hopeful that we’ll win back the house this year. That we’ll have a Democratic majority and real mandate to fight on those issues. This is exactly why I look forward to meeting with Representative Clarke and so many of my New York City colleagues. I think so many of our fights are the same, no matter where we are in the political spectrum within the Democratic Party.”
Meng, who won her reelection primary against Democratic opponent Chuck Park, has been in office since 2013. She is the first and only Asian American member of Congress from New York and chairs the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.
“Across the country, we are seeing an extraordinary wave of women of color stepping up to run and winning,” said Meng in a statement. “When they enter office, they will bring fresh perspectives and unshakeable determination to the halls of Congress. I am so excited to keep building this coalition alongside my colleagues, and I can’t wait to see what we accomplish together for working families in New York and nationwide.”
The broader picture
Not to be outdone on the state level, CAWP reported that women are 57.1% major-party nominees for statewide executive offices in New York.
Governor Kathy Hochul was uncontested in the June primary as she makes a bid for re-election and will face off against Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman in November. Joining her will be Lieutenant Governor Adrienne Adams, who might make history as the first Black woman elected to the position. Together, Hochul and Adams are already the first all-woman governor/lieutenant governor general-election ticket in state history.
“I think that what New Yorkers have been watching is women serving at the highest offices in the state and that definitely the role model effect is real,” said Sinzdak.
