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Mexican American union organizer and New York State Assembly member Claire Valdez says her experience fighting for workers’ rights and affordable housing drove her to run for Congress.
Valdez is running to represent New York’s 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, a seat covering parts of western Queens and northern Brooklyn. She wants to bring a grassroots organizing approach to Washington, she says, at a time when many voters feel disconnected from government.
Before entering elected office, Valdez organized with UAW Local 2110 at Columbia University. The experience, she said, molded her belief in collective action and in the government’s role in improving people’s lives. That includes affordability, the issue she hears about most from residents in western Queens and northern Brooklyn, where many people rent their homes. She pointed to health care costs as a major burden on working families, arguing that employment and income shouldn’t matter when it comes to access to care.
It’s the job of elected officials, Valdez says, to stay connected to these everyday concerns. She linked that philosophy to her work on unemployment protections and response to immigration enforcement actions in Queens, where she joined neighbors supporting families affected by ICE operations.
“Our democracy is under attack,” she said. “We need to be sending a real organizer to Congress who’s going to fight to win labor power, to make our lives more affordable, and to protect our neighbors.”
