Meet the Socialist Former Uber Driver Running for New York State Senate
The working-class son of Haitian immigrants, David Alexis cut his teeth organizing fellow Uber drivers. Now he’s running to unseat the “Joe Manchin of New York” and fight for immigrants’ rights, workers’ rights, and a Green New Deal from Albany.
David Alexis is running to represent District Twenty-one in the New York State Senate in the August primary. (David Alexis for State Senate)
The New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA) has had great electoral success in the last few years, winning six seats in the state legislature and an additional two in city council. Now they’re organizing to defend the seats of the DSA for the Many slate, which won a clean sweep two years ago, and elect three more socialists into office.
NYC-DSA members in office have ruffled some feathers. Just weeks ago, state assemblymember Zohran Mamdani was reprimanded by state senator Kevin Parker, who chairs the Energy and Telecommunications Committee, after Mamdani brought up the role of energy and fossil fuel companies in financing Parker’s campaigns.
David Alexis, one of the new NYC-DSA candidates, is challenging Parker for his seat in District Twenty-one. A former Uber driver and longtime community organizer, Alexis is hoping to build lasting power in East Flatbush by using his campaign to better link the working class with the burgeoning left political presence in his district.
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