Emily Gallagher has been a local organizer and activist in North Brooklyn for 13 years. She served as Co-Chair of the Board of Neighbors Allied for Good Growth (currently North Brooklyn Neighbors) and founded the Greenpoint Sexual Assault Task Force, which advocates for reforms to NYPD protocol. She was recently laid off from her position in an educational nonprofit due to COVID-19. Gallagher previously ran for Female District Leader in the 50th Assembly, but lost by a narrow margin. Her legislative priorities include housing, criminal justice reform, environmental regulation, and transportation. She also dedicates a portion of her platform to democracy issues, including passing automatic voter registration, fixing the newly approved campaign finance system, and imposing term limits on state legislators. Gallagher also supports Citizens Union’s reform agenda. Citizens Union was impressed by her knowledge on reform issues and her specific plans to address them. She provided thoughtful responses about securing a better alternative to JCOPE, as well as concrete policies to address COVID-19 in the district. Citizens Union prefers Gallagher in this race because we believe she will bring fresh energy to Albany and be a champion of our issues.

Joseph Lentol was first elected to the State Assembly in 1973, and is one of the longest serving lawmakers in Albany. He is the third generation in his family to serve in this role in the past century. He has been Chair of the powerful Codes Committee since 1992, and serves on the Election, Rules, and Ways and Means Committees. In the past, he chaired the Committee on Governmental Employees and the Committee on Governmental Operations. His legislative priorities include criminal justice reform, housing, environmental regulation, and transportation. Lentol counts among his achievements sponsoring legislation to raise the age of criminal responsibility to eighteen and require courts to publish pretrial data. Lentol has a well-thought out platform and clear legislative record, but ultimately he is opposed to key reform issues. He opposes restructuring the Board of Elections, reforming the special election process, and repealing Section 50-a of the Civil Rights Law. He also voiced his concern for public financing of campaigns due to budget constraints. While he has dedicated many years of service to his community, Citizens Union does not prefer Lentol in this race because of his opposition to fundamental elements of our reform agenda.