Jenifer Rajkumar had held her Queens Assembly seat since 2021. On Tuesday night she lost it by 18 points.
David Orkin, an immigrant workers’ rights attorney and union organizer, took 58.8 percent in the Democratic primary for State Assembly District 38. Rajkumar, the first South Asian woman ever elected to office in New York, got 40.9 percent. The district covers parts of Ridgewood, Glendale, Ozone Park, Woodhaven and Richmond Hill.
Orkin is a democratic socialist and describes himself as an anti-Zionist Jew. Jewish Voice for Peace Action marked the win with an Instagram post. “Pro-Palestine candidates are sweeping in NYC tonight,” it read. “Palestine was on the ballot, and won. David will be a champion for Palestinian freedom in Albany.”
A platform built on affordability, with Gaza in the background
Israel was not a listed plank. Orkin’s platform centered on affordability and immigration. But he said again and again that he backed a “free Palestine,” and he went after Rajkumar’s record on the subject. In a May post on X he wrote that she had “walked in the Israel day parade but has said NOTHING against the war in Gaza, occupation of Palestine, or Islamophobic attacks faced by the people of New York.”
Rajkumar, a close ally of former New York City Mayor Eric Adams, promised in her platform to fight antisemitism.
Orkin’s activism goes back years. He founded a Jewish Voice for Peace chapter in Tucson, Arizona, in 2014 and stayed with the group afterward. “I’ve been involved in the Jewish Palestine Solidarity Movement for 12, 13 years,” he told Democratic Left last month. He said he wanted to help Jewish people build religious spaces outside Zionism and make more room for Palestinian organizing.
In a reel JVP Action posted earlier in June, he said it was “so incredibly meaningful” to run as an anti-Zionist Jew and to hope to become one of the few such voices in an elected seat in state government. If elected, he said, he would be able to tell the legislature that “criticizing Israel for genocide, demanding an end to the occupation, demanding an end to funding war abroad is not antisemitic.”
Endorsements and money
Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez backed Orkin, as did Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, JVP Action and NYC Democratic Socialists for America. Rajkumar’s side included ActJew, a new nonprofit focused on combating antisemitism, the Queens Jewish Alliance, and Assemblymembers Sam Berger, Kalman Yeger and Chuck Lavine.
Orkin raised more than $290,000 this cycle, including over $156,000 from the state comptroller’s office. Rajkumar raised more than $270,000, including $9,000 from health care executive Daniel Lowy.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani did not endorse Orkin. He did endorse Brad Lander, Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez, who also beat establishment-backed opponents in congressional primaries the same night.
In a statement relayed by QNS, Orkin said: “I have dedicated my life fighting for immigrants and workers, I am proud to have earned their support in this election, and I look forward to spending the rest of my life winning the beautiful and joyous lives we deserve.”
Sources
- Jewish anti-Zionist David Orkin defeats incumbent in NY Assembly primary – Jewish Telegraphic Agency
