In 2021, Alexa Avilés was elected to represent New York City Council District 38, which includes several neighborhoods in South Brooklyn. Avilés, who is chair of the Committee on Immigration, is now seeking a third term, running on a record and platform of affordable housing, climate protections, and defending immigrants against far-right attacks.

Her campaign is backed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and fellow councilmember Tiffany Cabán, progressive groups such as the New York City Democratic Socialists of America and the New York Working Families Party, and a slew of unions as well as the New York City Central Labor Council. But much like her first campaign for city council, Avilés is facing a bevy of opposition money from the real estate industry — and now the Israel lobby as well.

Avilés, who also recently introduced legislation to establish a Labor History Month in New York public schools, sat down with Jacobin contributor Peter Lucas to discuss her time on the council and as Immigration Committee chair, a socialist model for climate policy, and why super PACs are spending big to unseat her.