India Walton may have lost the Buffalo mayoral race last week, but her campaign isn’t the only socialist one in upstate New York. Today in the Mid-Hudson Valley, Sarahana Shrestha, the Ulster County cochair of the Democratic Socialists of America’s (DSA) local chapter, announced her bid for the state assembly seat for Kingston, New Paltz, Woodstock, Rhinebeck, and other areas. The seat is currently held by Kevin Cahill, a nearly twenty-nine-year incumbent expected to seek reelection in New York’s 2022 Democratic primary.

Shrestha is an organizer, graphic designer, and first-time candidate who was born in Nepal and immigrated to New York in 2001. Now forty, she lives with her husband in Esopus, a small town south of Kingston, and plans to focus her campaign on climate, health care, and housing. She was endorsed by Mid-Hudson Valley DSA and is also being backed by New York City DSA and the political arm of For the Many, a grassroots organizing group based in the Hudson Valley.

If elected, Shrestha would join a growing number of democratic socialists in the state legislature and expand their reach beyond New York City. Jacobin recently spoke with her about why she’s running. The interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.