Despite a rollercoaster campaign, 27-year-old Democratic Socialist Julia Salazar’s run for New York’s state senate demonstrated that women aren’t just running for office in unprecedented numbers this year – they’re winning. In New York’s primaries on 13 September she defeated the 68-year-old state senator Martin Dilan, who has represented the 18th district in North Brooklyn since 2002. There is no Republican running against her, so she is virtually guaranteed her seat. She will be the first socialist in New York’s senate in almost a century.
Salazar’s campaign was boosted by the shock victory in June of Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, the 27-year-old activist who defeated the 57-year-old Democratic giant Joe Crowley after successfully attacking him from the left. Ocasio-Cortez also describes herself as a Democratic Socialist and the pair share a similar agenda: both are calling for the abolition of ICE and comprehensive immigration and criminal justice reform, the expansion of Medicare for all, free university tuition, more rent-controlled housing and other pro-poor policies.
Content from our partners
