Full Video: Three Candidates In NY-7 Democratic Primary Debate
Three Democratic candidates running in the June Democratic primary for New York’s 7th Congressional district (covering parts of Northern Brooklyn and Southern Queens) met on Wednesday for a one-hour debate hosted by Spectrum News NY1. The primary election is scheduled for June 23rd, with early voting beginning on June 13th. They are running to replace Rep. Nydia Velazquez, who is retiring after serving in Congress since 1993.
Candidates: – Antonio Reynoso is serving his second term as Brooklyn borough president and previously served in the City Council for eight years. – Claire Valdez is a first-term member of the New York State Assembly and previously worked as a labor organizer with the United Auto Workers. – Julie Won has been a member of the City Council since 2022 and previously served as a member of Queens Community Board 2.
They discuss Latino empowerment, Puerto Rico’s debt and pension liabilities, the island’s self-determination and economic prosperity, balancing political principles and with the practical need to pass legislation and build coalitions. They also cover foreign policy and war, including U.S. involvement in the wars in Iran, Ukraine, and Gaza, sanctuary city laws, the migrant crisis in New York City, and the role of ICE. Plus local housing, transportation, and infrastructure, with a focus on rising rents, displacement, the condition of NYCHA developments, and potential solutions like social housing and tenant protections.
Opening statements: JULIE WON: I’m running for Congress for every single immigrant woman who has had a miscarriage while in detention because she was denied medical care, and for every U.S. citizen who stood the line in protection of our immigrant neighbors. I’m running for Congress for every woman who put her career on pause because it’s simply cheaper for us to be the caregiver for our elderly parents or for our children than going to work. I’m running for Congress for every worker in this country who wakes up in the morning wondering if they’ll still have a job because of headlines saying that hundreds of thousands of jobs are being automated by AI. My name is Julie Won, and I’m the only mom, immigrant, and tech worker in this race. And I’m here to say that we no longer should buy into this lie that it is a personal problem, but it is a structural problem, and we want to go to Congress to fix it. CLAIRE VALDEZ: This is a stage I never could have imagined myself standing on when I was working late nights and bagging groceries. The furthest I could possibly imagine was my next paycheck or the first of the month. Then I joined my union, and for the first time, I had power. That’s what I want every single worker to have: not lives ground down by bosses and landlords, but the good life. My name is Claire Valdez. I’m an assembly member and a union organizer, and I’m running for Congress because workers deserve it all: Medicare for All, housing for all, unions for all, to abolish ICE, and to end the genocide. What kind of Democratic majority do we want to build? One that fights for working people, or one that serves the billionaires and war profiteers who have paved the way for fascism? I have seen us win in my union and in our movement to elect Zohran Mamdani. I’m ready to lead that fight with you. ANTONIO REYNOSO: I am currently the Brooklyn borough president, a father of two beautiful boys, a husband to a lovely wife, and the Working Families Party’s chosen candidate for this congressional race here in New York 7. I’m a son of Dominican immigrants who got here in the late 1970s with nothing in their pockets. So whether it was welfare, food stamps, Section 8 – if there was a government subsidy that existed, my family had to take advantage of it to make sure that we had a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs. Government used to work for people, and I want government to work for people again. It’s why I’m running for office. I was the founder of an organization that fought against the corrupt Brooklyn party machine. I was a co-chair of the Progressive Caucus at the age of 30 years old. I’ve always led from the front. I was able to do police reform that was deeply meaningful. I was able to kick ICE off of Rikers Island when I was a freshman council member. These types of accomplishments are the things that are going to set us apart on this stage, because we need real fights and we need real results.
