Epicenter NYC and TBN24 invited several incumbents and challengers in key primary races across New York City to participate in the Candidate Conversations series. Interviews with other candidates will be scheduled and published ahead of the June primary.
Primary Election Day is Tuesday, June 23. To view your ballot and polling location, visit findmypollsite.vote.nyc and check out our full guide
Assembly candidate Brian Romero knows firsthand how quickly housing insecurity can upend a family. He spent nearly 15 years living in NYCHA, has lived in a basement apartment and experienced homelessness as a child after his parents separated.
Romero, who previously served as chief of staff to Assembly Member Jessica González-Rojas, has made lowering housing costs and economic stability central to his bid for Assembly District 34. The Jackson Heights resident supports growing the housing supply while balancing safety and protections for current residents, backing measures such as basement apartment legalization and expanded voucher programs. He also supports commercial rent stabilization and an inflation rebate aimed at helping small businesses weather rising costs.
For Romero, the casino, on the other hand, was never part of the solution. “I do not support a casino,” he said. “I was a social worker, I worked with people who have addictions, and we also understood that it was our responsibility to talk to every single” neighbor about the casino proposal, he said.
Romero also criticized what he sees as efforts to undermine public programs while wealthy individuals and corporations get tax breaks.
“This constant focus and criticism of safety net programs is directly correlated to a billionaire class that wants to shift the attention on low-income people and immigrants,” he said, “so that we don’t pay attention to what they’re doing in Washington, which is to erode our health care and food access, which is to chip away at public housing and so many other programs we know that are helpful for low-income and communities of color.”
