NYC-CC38: Democratic socialist Alexa Avils is tested in a redrawn NYC Council district
New York City Council seats were redistricted two years ago, but a southern Brooklyn seat will have a first real test of how much its politics have shifted this June.
Democratic socialist Council Member Alexa Avilés is facing a challenge from moderate Democrat Ling Ye in Council District 38. Local politicos see the winding district as a collection of around four parts: the progressive stronghold of Red Hook and a slice of South Slope, the historically Puerto Rican half of Sunset Park, parts of southern Brooklyn’s large Chinese population that meander down through Bensonhurst, and the new part of the district – whiter, more moderate Dyker Heights.
Avilés has a strong edge in the race as an incumbent with the support of not just major progressive power brokers like the Working Families Party, the Democratic Socialists of America and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but also powerful labor unions including 32BJ SEIU, 1199SEIU and the United Federation of Teachers. (She was previously endorsed by District Council 37, but the public sector union withdrew their endorsement over her support for legislation in a controversial fight over city retirees’ health care.)
But as incumbent challenges go, Ye’s is nothing to scoff at. Ye – a former staffer for former Council Member Carlos Menchaca as well as Reps. Nydia Velázquez and Dan Goldman – is well-funded, backed by both a real estate lobby PAC and a pro-Israel PAC, and has experience on the ground in the district. Plus, she has a message that could appeal to more moderate voters – including a focus on public safety and housing over new homeless shelters – and a foothold in the district’s large Chinese American community. Ye immigrated to the U.S. from China as a teenager and grew up with a single mother who worked in a garment factory and then as a street vendor.
https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2025/05/democratic-socialist-alexa-aviles-tested-redrawn-nyc-council-district/405586/?oref=csny-homepage-river
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