Brian Kavanagh currently represents much of lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn in the state Senate, and he has represented the east side of Manhattan in Albany for the last 15 years. An effective lawmaker who chairs the Committee on Housing, Kavanagh has been instrumental in achieving new protections for New York renters and direct assistance for struggling tenants, including extending the moratorium on evictions during the pandemic. Kavanagh is also a long-time reformer. During his time in the Assembly, he sponsored many election and campaign finance reforms that passed the lower house but died in the Senate. He was the prime sponsor of three important reforms enacted in 2019, which closed the LLC loophole, improved ballot design, and shortened the party enrollment deadline. Most recently, he passed a bill to reduce the voter registration deadline to the constitutional minimum of 10 days, which he has been sponsoring since 2008. Citizens Union prefers Kavanagh in this race because he is an effective legislator with a proven track record of advancing the reform agenda, and deep ties to his district.

Danyela Souza Egorov was born in Brazil, and lauds access to education as her “passport for a better life.” As such, she has spent her career working to expand education access for children through charter education. Souza Egorov is the founding board chair of Brooklyn RISE Charter, a public elementary school serving 150 students in Sunset Park. She is also the co-founder of the New York State Charter Parent Council, and the Vice President of the District 2 Community Education Council. In that role, she has been an outspoken critic of the DOE under the de Blasio administration. Egorov lists her main issues as allowing school choice for all New Yorkers, revisiting the controversial bail reform laws, and making it easier to own and operate a small business in New York City. Egorov supports most of Citizens Union’s reform issues except for removing the constitutional requirement that empowers the two major political parties to nominate commissioners to boards of elections, because she fears that if removed, there will be “no way to prevent total domination of the BOE by one party.” Citizens Union prefers her opponent in this race due to his track record of success at advancing key legislation, but encourages Egorov to continue her work in the community.