On a sunny afternoon in Ridgewood, Queens Assemblymember Claire Valdez blended in so well at Salty Lunch Lady's Little Luncheonette that, at first, this reporter didn't even notice her waiting for her lunch a few tables over—we'd picked the same spot to beat the heat in the hour before our scheduled interview. After some pleasant chit-chat (off the record, sorry) and a few $20 Dinner-approved sandwiches later, we sat down with the current frontrunner in the contest for congressional district NY-7.
If you follow New York City politics, you already have a hint of the dynamics at play here: Valdez, who was elected to the state assembly with the full-throated endorsement of NYC-DSA in 2024, entered her current race back in January with Mayor Zohran Mamdani's support. She's since been endorsed by prominent progressive labor leaders like United Auto Workers President Shawn Fein, International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA Sarah Nelson, and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Meanwhile, Rep. Nydia Velázquez, the pioneering progressive who is vacating the NY-7 seat after more than three decades, endorsed Valdez's opponent, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, on her way out the door.
The race has become a proxy fight for the soul of New York City's leftist movement, especially as all three leading candidates—Valdez, Reynoso, and Queens City Councilmember Julie Won—profess relatively similar policy ideas. Valdez's supporters point to her democratic socialist bonafides, her experience in the labor movement, and her record of speaking out against the genocide in Gaza as her strong points as a candidate; meanwhile, critics have pointed to her relatively short time in office, the fact that she moved to New York City in 2015, and the fact that, like fellow DSA-endorsed congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier, Valdez has chosen to solicit super PAC funds via red-boxing on her campaign website. So far, three super PACs have spent around $375,000 to help get her elected. The question remains as to what matters most to voters in the newly minted "Commie Corridor"—and, by extension, whether Zohran's DSA cadre will gain another seat in the federal legislature, or the city's progressive nonprofit-coded stalwarts will retain their grip on the city's Left.
But speaking with Valdez, one doesn't necessarily get the impression that she's trying to be anything beyond who she is: a pretty typical Ridgewood resident. She's an outspoken democratic socialist, a union organizer, and a 34-year-old who hangs out in Grover Cleveland Park when the weather permits—like it did when we sat down to have our conversation. "This is probably my favorite neighborhood park," Valdez said. "There's a really great playground, you can see the skyline. In Ridgewood, there's just not a lot of green space." She added, "I've been broken up with twice in this park—COVID was hard."
We caught up with the candidate the day after her first televised debate with opponents Won and Reynoso, and discussed the genocide in Gaza, the future of the city's Left, and how her past as a working artist informs her present as a congressional candidate.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.