A 38-year-old Democratic Socialist will take over Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s state Assembly seat after a decisive special election win over two other members of the left-wing group.
Diana Moreno (D-NY), a community organizer and devout member of the DSA secured 74% of the vote when the Associated Press called the race for Assembly district 36 — where Hizzoner served from 2021 until his mayoral win in November of last year.
Moreno easily beat out two challengers, Muslim socialist Rana Abdelhamid and DSA member member Mary Jobaida.
Other winners in the city’s three special elections on Tuesday were City Council Member Erik Bottcher (D-3), who will serve as a state senator to Manhattan’s district 47, and former City Council Majority Leader Keith Powers (D-NY), replacing Council Member Harvey Epstein (D-2) in Manhattan’s 74th Assembly district.
While ex-council members Bottcher and Powers both coasted to victory over their Republican opponents, Moreno, who was formally endorsed by both Mamdani and the DSA, faced a slightly more crowded field.
The democratic candidate went up against two fellow DSA members — and found herself in the middle of a political standoff between the mayor and his one-time close ally, Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez (D-7).
The retiring Queens rep. endorsed Abdelhamid for the seat that falls in her district. The move came after Velázquez expressed frustration over Mamdani’s decision not to back her preferred candidate, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso (D-NY), for her own congressional seat.
“Honeymoons are short, and people need to pay attention to the work at hand,” Velázquez told the New York Times after Mamdani revealed he was endorsing DSA candidate Claire Valdez despite her wishes.
Bottcher got an overwhelming 92% stamp of approval from his assembly district, which overlaps with the council district he has served since 2021 and was re-elected to in 2025.
Bottcher’s Chief of Staff Carl Wilson is the favorite to replace him in a separate special election expected to be held in the Spring.
Powers, who served City Council’s district 4 from 2018 until the end of his term in 2025, will take over Council Member Epstein’s district in Manhattan’s Lower East Side after winning 82% of the vote over Republican Joseph Foley.
