In 2020, Emily Gallagher was elected to represent Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood in the New York State Assembly, defeating a forty-eight-year incumbent friendly to corporate power. In a close election, Gallagher’s progressive platform of promoting affordable housing and opposing new fossil fuel development won out over Joe Lentol’s boilerplate liberalism.

Gallagher, a Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member, took office in January 2021, and last month, NYC-DSA voted to approve her request to join the Socialists in Office caucus along with five other DSA members in the legislature. The beginning of her tenure in office has seen some of the most tumultuous events in recent New York political history, with Governor Andrew Cuomo facing two investigations over multiple allegations of sexual harassment, and an FBI probe related to an alleged cover up of COVID-19 deaths in the state’s nursing homes.

New York is also barreling toward the finalization of the nearly $200 billion state budget sometime next week. Negotiations have been fierce, with progressive organizations and lawmakers pushing for new taxes on the wealthy and expansion of social services to aid the state’s recovery from COVID-19.