Eight years after helping to elect its first socialist to Albany, the New York City Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA) has put seven more socialists into the legislature and two onto city council, with two other sitting councilors currently seeking admission to the group’s Socialist in Office (SIO) committee. As the chapter expands its ranks and aims for higher office, it confronts a new challenge: how to build its bench and retain its seats if and when the incumbent runs for higher office.

In New York State Assembly District Thirty-Seven (AD37), incumbent Claire Valdez recently launched a campaign for New York’s Seventh Congressional District. NYC-DSA and Valdez have both endorsed fellow DSA member and housing organizer Samantha Kattan as successor in AD37, which includes the Queens neighborhoods of Ridgewood, Maspeth, Sunnyside, Long Island City, and part of Woodside.

Kattan joined DSA in 2017 and was the first research cochair of NYC-DSA’s Electoral Working Group, where she volunteered on Julia Salazar’s successful 2018 state senate campaign; she also helped cofound the chapter’s newsletter, the Thorn. Kattan currently works at the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board. As a tenant organizer, she helped recruit Phara Souffrant Forrest to run for office as a DSA member, and she also helped to found Housing Organizers for People Empowerment (HOPE), a tenants’ union in Brownsville.