c/o David Siffert via Facebook
The next person to represent the 66th Assembly District in Albany will also be breaking new ground for the whole state legislature.
That person is David Siffert, who won on Tuesday without an opponent on the ballot. When Siffert is sworn in in January, the lawyer and progressive organizer will become the first openly nonbinary member of the New York State Legislature, according to Gay City News.
The general election was quiet compared with the fight it took to get there. Siffert won June’s six-way Democratic primary by just 15 votes out of more than 17,000 cast, and the result held up through a tight primary recount, according to City & State. Siffert’s closest rival was Jeannine Kiely, chair of Manhattan Community Board 2, who had the backing of the retiring incumbent, Assemblymember Deborah Glick. Pro-housing advocate Ryder Kessler came in third.
Glick has represented the district, which runs from Greenwich Village through Tribeca and lower Manhattan, since 1993. Siffert, a former civil rights attorney, was an early leader in the Invest in Our New York campaign, which pushes for higher taxes on the wealthy. The Village Independent Democrats and the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club both endorsed Siffert in the primary.
After the recount, Siffert described the community as home for “20 years, and it’s my favorite place in the world.”
The milestone carries extra weight in a district that includes the Stonewall National Monument. In an interview with The Advocate over the summer, Siffert argued that symbolic attacks and actual policy harm are “extremely interrelated,” and said LGBTQ+ lawmakers will have to work together in budget fights to make sure their communities get a fair share.
Siffert is one of several new faces heading to Albany from lower Manhattan. In the 27th State Senate District, Democrat Grace Lee won with about 83% of the vote and will replace the retiring Sen. Brian Kavanagh.
