StreetsPAC Goes Statewide: Livable Streets Group Endorses 17 More Legislative Candidates
StreetsPAC, the political action committee for the livable streets movement, has endorsed 17 more candidates for the State Legislature ahead of the November 3 general election: five for the Senate and a dozen for the Assembly.
The 17 pols join 21 winning candidates the group backed before the June primary, some of them covered here in June, to form a slate with races across the whole state, from Suffolk County to Erie County. It’s the first time StreetsPAC has endorsed statewide, executive director Eric McClure wrote in the group’s announcement.
Seven of the new endorsees are incumbents, five are challenging sitting officeholders and five are running for open seats. Nearly two-thirds are running on Long Island or in upstate districts, including the Hudson Valley and the North Country.
StreetsPAC began looking at races beyond New York City in earnest in 2024, and McClure wrote that the number of candidate questionnaires it received from outside the five boroughs has more than quadrupled this year. The group has two reasons for the broader reach: many of the city’s biggest street safety and transportation tools, including speed and red-light cameras and MTA funding, need approval in Albany, and cities, towns and villages across the state stand to gain from complete streets, lower speed limits and multi-use paths.
Candidates are listed by chamber, then in ascending order by district number. (For the full list, with campaign links, click here.)
State Senate
Aber Kawas (District 12; Queens, open seat): Kawas, a community organizer, beat Assembly Member Steven Raga (D-Queens) in the Democratic primary and is running to succeed former state Senate Deputy Majority Leader Mike Gianaris in western Queens. StreetsPAC cited her support for fast, free buses, universal daylighting, the Interborough Express and a G line extension. She also told the group she would back cameras on street sweepers to enforce alternate-side parking if the data is limited to that use.
Andrew Gounardes (District 26; Brooklyn, incumbent): StreetsPAC credits Gounardes, who won his seat in 2018 on a pledge to protect and expand the city’s speed cameras, with sponsoring the 2024 law that quadrupled its red-light cameras. This spring, his “Stop Super Speeders” bill became law, requiring speed-limiting devices in the vehicles of drivers with many dangerous-driving violations. When the new session starts in January, he plans to push a bill to cut statewide vehicle miles traveled 20 percent by 2050.
Joe Rand (District 38; Rockland County, challenger): Rand, in his second term as mayor of the Village of Nyack, is challenging state Sen. Bill Weber (R-Rockland County). StreetsPAC noted his support for local control over speed limits and cameras, DMV reform, and tougher rules for Class 3 e-bikes but not slower Class 1 and 2 models. Citing Rockland’s thin Metro-North service, he wants major investment in west-of-Hudson transit.
Devin Lander (District 43; Rensselaer, Washington & Albany Counties, challenger): Lander, the state historian and a former Assembly staffer, is challenging state Sen. Jacob Ashby (R-Castleton). He told StreetsPAC he supports removing I-787 along Albany’s waterfront and believes a pedestrian bridge across the Hudson would be a major mobility boost. StreetsPAC also cited his push to extend Capital District Transportation Authority buses deeper into Rensselaer County and into Washington County.
Samra Brouk (District 55; Monroe County & Greater Rochester, incumbent): Brouk, one of StreetsPAC’s first upstate endorsees in 2024, is seeking a fourth term representing the eastern half of Rochester. The group highlighted her support for Mayor Malik Evans’s bike network expansion and the Inner Loop North project, which is replacing part of a downtown highway. She is also pushing for more money for the cash-strapped Regional Transit Service and wants to explore a dedicated revenue stream for upstate transit.
Assembly
Josh Slaughter (District 3; Suffolk County, challenger): Slaughter, political director of Laborers Local 66 and a former chief of staff in the Suffolk County Legislature, is challenging Assembly Member Joe DeStefano (R-Brookhaven). StreetsPAC cited his successful fight for work-zone speed cameras and his push to spend transit money on LIRR electrification, more frequent trains and better north-south bus service. He also supports requalifying drivers with repeated dangerous-driving violations.
Rebecca Kassay (District 4; Suffolk County, incumbent): Kassay narrowly unseated the incumbent in 2024 with StreetsPAC’s endorsement. In July, her bill permanently protecting the Setauket-Port Jefferson Station Greenway Trail became law, and StreetsPAC said it also paves the way for a possible rail yard to serve eventual electrification of the LIRR’s Port Jefferson branch, which she champions. As Port Jefferson’s deputy mayor, she commissioned the area’s first complete-streets study.
Craig Herskowitz (District 12; Suffolk County, open seat): Herskowitz is an attorney and former New York City traffic court judge. He told StreetsPAC that voters keep raising road safety concerns and that he sees an appetite for traffic calming and targeted camera enforcement. He supports congestion pricing, calling Long Island opposition to it a “manufactured issue,” and wants its revenue used to electrify the Port Jefferson branch east of Huntington.
Robert Carroll (District 44; Brooklyn, incumbent): Carroll first won his seat with StreetsPAC’s endorsement in 2016 and has earned it in every election since. StreetsPAC credited him as one of the Legislature’s loudest congestion pricing supporters and a strong proponent of automated camera enforcement. He is carrying bills to require delivery apps to insure their workers and to raise transit money through a small tax on package deliveries.
David Siffert (District 66; Manhattan, open seat): Siffert, a civil rights lawyer and law professor, won a six-way Democratic primary to succeed Assembly Member Deborah Glick (D-Manhattan) and is unopposed in November. StreetsPAC cited Siffert’s amicus brief for lawmakers backing congestion pricing and support for the 14th Street busway as a neighbor. Siffert supports camera enforcement with data privacy protections, wants to phase out Class 3 e-bikes in the city, and favors graduated fines for dangerous driving.
Vanessa Aronson (District 73; Manhattan, open seat): Aronson, a nonprofit executive and former diplomat and public school teacher, is running unopposed to succeed Assembly Member Alex Bores (D-Manhattan) on the East Side. StreetsPAC noted she backed congestion pricing before it launched and plans to push for better bus service. She also wants crosstown bike lanes through the Central Park transverses, including the planned 72nd Street redesign.
Keith Powers (District 74; Manhattan, incumbent): Powers is seeking his first full term after winning a February special election to succeed former Assembly Member Harvey Epstein, and he is a six-time StreetsPAC endorsee. StreetsPAC credited his City Council work on the Sixth Avenue bike lane extension, the Second Avenue bike lane gap, the 14th Street busway and the 34th Street busway. It also noted the seven-point plan to improve bus service he issued after riding every Manhattan bus route during last year’s borough president run.
Dana Levenberg (District 95; Putnam & Westchester Counties, incumbent): Levenberg is running for a third term in a Hudson Valley district that includes Ossining, where she was town supervisor before winning her seat in 2022. StreetsPAC cited her support for congestion pricing because of the Metro-North funding it provides and her work on the MOGO Trail greenway. She is also open to periodic driver retesting and has partnered with Gounardes on a complete-streets bill.
Chloe Pierce (District 107; Rensselaer, Washington & Columbia Counties, challenger): Pierce, a lobbyist whom StreetsPAC also endorsed in 2024, is in a rematch with Assembly Member Scott Bendett (R-Averill Park). StreetsPAC said she believes the district’s top transportation need is better public transit, especially to connect older residents with health care. She also supports multi-modal paths in towns like Bethlehem and reviving the push to extend Metro-North north of Dutchess County.
Dennis Gordon (District 117; North Country, open seat): Gordon, a graphic designer and small business owner, is running to succeed retiring Assembly Member Ken Blankenbush (R-Black River) and is the first Democrat to seek the seat in more than a decade. StreetsPAC said he supports complete-streets policies for rural villages and local authority to lower speed limits where state roads run through them. He also points to the near absence of public transit across the district’s four counties.
Anna Kelles (District 125; Tompkins & Cortland Counties, incumbent): Kelles, who chairs the Assembly’s Commission on Rural Resources, is running unopposed for a fourth term and earned one of StreetsPAC’s first upstate endorsements in 2024. After a question on StreetsPAC’s 2024 candidate survey, she introduced the Assembly companion to state Sen. Rachel May’s (D-Syracuse) bill requiring regular updates to the state’s bicycle and pedestrian plan. She also saved Ithaca Carshare with an insurance bill, and StreetsPAC noted she has been struck twice by cars as a cyclist.
Kurt VanWuyckhuyse (District 134; Monroe County, challenger): VanWuyckhuyse, a first-time candidate who manages an auto-repair shop, is the first Democrat in six years to contest the seat held by Assembly Member Josh Jensen (R-Greece). StreetsPAC said he reached out months before it issued its questionnaire, and the thought he put into his answers was evident. He backs more funding for upstate transit, automated enforcement and retesting drivers with repeated moving violations.
Early voting for the November 3 general election begins Saturday, Oct. 24, which is also the deadline to register, and runs daily through Sunday, Nov. 1. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Election Day. To check your registration or find early-voting and Election Day sites, click here; New York City voters can also use vote.nyc. To look up your polling place, click here.
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