Of the five candidates endorsed by NYC-DSA and running for seats in New York state government this year, Marcela Mitaynes’s bid for Assembly in Brooklyn’s District 51 seemed to many observers to be the longest of long shots. There were two progressive challengers in the race, both women, a situation that seemed almost certain to split the left vote and throw the race to the incumbent, who had been in office since 1994. And while all the DSA candidates faced the formidable obstacle of organizing from their homes during lockdown, after working hard to establish effective door-knocking operations, Mitaynes endured another: in late March, she contracted COVID-19 and was sick for a month.

Yet, while the early counts look promising for all NYC-DSA’s state races, and State Senator Julia Salazar was decisively re-elected, Mitaynes is the first of the organization’s challengers to win a concession from an opponent, incumbent Felix Ortiz, who proved to be her main rival in the race. “I’m still in shock,” Mitaynes smiled broadly, speaking with Jacobin on Sunday morning.

Mitaynes, now 46, came with her family from Peru when she was a baby. Her indigenous family was undocumented, eventually achieving citizenship under President Ronald Reagan’s amnesty. When she was five, they moved from Hell’s Kitchen to Brooklyn’s Sunset Park, where she lives today.