Toby Ann Stavisky has represented Queens in the State Senate since 1999 when she won a special election to replace her late husband. From 2003 to 2008, Stavisky served as Assistant Minority Whip. Currently, she serves as Vice Chairwoman of the Democratic Majority Conference and chairs the Committee on Higher Education. Stavisky has introduced a handful of CU adjacent bills in her 22 years in the Senate, including legislation to allow 16 year-olds to serve on community boards, requiring Braille for all who need it on absentee ballots, and improving language assistance at the Queens Board of Elections. After the redistricting process significantly redrew several senate districts in Queens, Stavisky decided to run in a new district. She currently represents Senate District 16, an oddly shaped district that is centered in Flushing and Murray Hill. Now, she seeks to represent District 11, which runs through the Queens northern shorefront from Glen Oaks to Astoria. In her interview, Stavisky argued voters’ primary concern is that they are served well by their representative, and that her track record proves she provides for her constituents. Her priorities are reducing gun violence, protecting women’s reproductive rights, and reducing tuition costs at CUNY and SUNY. Stavisky supported all of the candidate questionnaire items, and said she would like to see patronage limited in boards of elections. She also stated her strong support for an independent redistricting process. Citizens Union appreciates her thoughtful and honest answers, and believes her to be an effective and experienced lawmaker. We endorse her in this race.

Stefano Forte is a local activist from Queens. He became involved in local environmental issues, and is now the president of the Queens branch of the American Conservation Coalition, a group dedicated to cleaning up parks. Forte served as the campaign manager in two local races and has held leadership positions in the Queens Young Republican club. His campaign priorities are to repeal cashless bail, restore merit based education, and temporarily suspend the gas tax. Forte supported most of CU’s reform agenda but opposed same day voter registration and no-excuse absentee ballots, saying that these measures would lead to corruption. He opposes reducing the voter registration deadline to anything less than the current 25 days before an election. On BOE reform, Forte wants to see merit-based hiring and curb patronage, but seemed reluctant to separate it from parties out of fear of “one party control”. Instead, he wants to add election commissioners from third parties to county BOEs. On campaign finance reform, Forte believes corporations should be banned from giving contributions and supports matching funds programs, although he believes they could “open the door to corruption and greed”. Although he took a reform-minded approach to certain issues, CU does not endorse him in this race due to his opposition to important voting reforms.