District Candidate Juan Ardila (Courtesy of Juan Ardila)
April 7, 2022 By Allie Griffin
Council Member Tiffany Cabán, a leading progressive within the City Council, announced Thursday that she has endorsed Juan Ardila for the 37th Assembly seat.
Cabán, who represents Astoria and East Elmhurst in the council, is backing the 28-year-old progressive for the seat, which represents Long Island City, Maspeth, Ridgewood, Sunnyside and Woodside.
“I’m excited to support Juan Ardila,” she said in a statement. “Western Queens needs a fighter up in Albany: someone who will expand protections for tenants, deliver investments in resilient, green infrastructure, support gig workers and low-wage laborers, and better our public schools.”
Ardila, a Maspeth native who works at the Legal Aid Society, previously ran for City Council and has prior government experience.
He ran unsuccessfully for the District 30 Council seat against incumbent Council Member Robert Holden last year, generating about 45 percent of the vote.
Before running for office, Ardila was a staffer in Brad Lander’s council office. He also worked as a consultant for the NYC Department of Education, where he supported the expansion of universal pre-K and 3-K for All program.
“I have no doubt that Juan has the experience, vision, and passion to make Queens a safer, more equitable, more just borough for all of our neighbors,” Cabán said.
Ardila is a first-generation New Yorker and the son of Colombian and Honduran-Cuban immigrants. He has vowed to fight for immigrants, working New Yorkers, renters, and all struggling to establish a proper life.
“I am running for Assembly because it’s time for a change. I know how hard it is today for New Yorkers to make ends meet,” he said. “I’m going to fight tooth and nail on behalf of tenants, seniors, working families, and our immigrant neighbors.”
Ardila has racked up more than a dozen endorsements in addition to Cabán’s. He has the backing of State Senator Jessica Ramos, State Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz, City Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez, former Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, the Working Families Party, DC37, New York Immigration Action, Make the Road Action, Open New York, Community Voices Heard (CVH), Churches United For Fair Housing Action (CUFFH) and local Democratic leaders including Émilia Decaudin, Jesse Laymon, and Derek Evers.
“Having Council Member Caban’s support is a tremendous vote of confidence in our campaign’s vision of a more equitable New York,” Ardila said. “I know that working together we will help bring about the progressive change our communities need and deserve.”
Ardila is one of several candidates running for the District 37 seat, which was left wide open when Assembly Member Cathy Nolan announced her retirement in February.
Brent O’Leary, a community organizer and attorney who unsuccessfully ran for the District 26 city council seat last year, is also vying for the Assembly seat. He has been endorsed by the 504 Democratic Club, which represents Democrats with disabilities.
Meanwhile, Johanna Carmona, a lifelong Sunnysider, is also running for the seat. Carmona, a lawyer who previously worked as an assistant district attorney in the special victims bureau with the Kings County District Attorney’s office, has been endorsed by Nolan and the Ridgewood Democratic Club.
Jim Magee, a private practice attorney and lifelong Sunnyside/Woodside resident, is also running for the seat and he has been endorsed by the New York State Court Officer’s Union.
Meanwhile, a fifth candidate, Vlad Pavlyuk, who had previously announced he is running for the assembly district has dropped out of the race. Instead, he is petitioning a run for the State Committee seat.
The map of Assembly District 37, following the state redistricting (Source: RedistrictingandYou.org)
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20 Comments
Waiting to hear who AOC will endorse.
Note that she’s weighing in on a race that’s not even in her district. I’d recommend she focus on crime and the potholes, and then worry about whom she should endorse on a statewide election in which none of her constituents is directly affected.
I meant state office not statewide.
She is an elected official and a voice for many registered voters throughout the borough and city. Even if you do not agree she has every right to endorse a candidate.
We need to vote for more black and brown people to represent our changing city. Many whites fled during the pandemic and abandoned our city.
More Asian people to.
Not me. I don’t vote by color.
the progressive liberal will put in liberal bike lanes I need parking
Thank you Tiffany for endorsing one of the candidates. Now I can scratch them off my list, now I’m down to three.
I guess cancel culture does not exist for one of their own….if it had been anyone else with a history of anti-asian, homophobic tweets, she would have demanded they drop out of the race. Caban and Ardilla are a bunch of clowns.
https://nypost.com/2021/04/25/queens-city-council-candidate-deletes-racist-anti-gay-tweets/
Agreed. This guys endorsers are not motivating me to vote for him. He’s going to follow all their footsteps and turn our neighborhood to shit
Did she forget all his past homophobic comments?
For all the Criminals she holds dear to her heart. I’m
A life long democrat and I want you to know I won’t be voting for you or any other candidate I think Is bad for my personal safety, among a host of other things!
Do you mean homophobic AND racist AND sexist comments? But if you are part of the left and show devotion to the cause, you will always be forgiven, well not really. Liberals or progressives or whatever they classify themselves are a strange bunch. Only people with opposing political views can be considered racist, sexist, or all of the above, except for some people. Case in point, Whoopi Goldberg got two weeks suspension for underplaying the Holocaust. Rogan and Chapelle almost got cancelled, and both are neither conservative nor Republican. I guess it all depends on who or what you insult.
Ardila a bigot
But Caban will look the other way as he is hard core leftist
If you need a politician to tell you how to vote and what to think you have to wake up and independently do your own research.
so many progressives…doing everything in their power for themselves instead of their constituents. funny how he says he’s fighting for the working New Yorkers when that’s clearly against the progressive agenda, as proven historically.
With his history of bigotry and prejudice I thought he was a republican.
I know who I’m not voting for. He will fight for all people of color no matter what color they are.
Caban forgot to mention in her statement the closing of prisons and more money for mental health programs. or where the 850 million went on the same program that deblasios wife took from the tax payers. She should have also mentioned that crime is up 35% in NYC but why talk about that. Roll on midterm elections this November. anyone reading this and that has a true interest in saving this wonderful city knows how to vote with a consciences.