In bid to unseat Ardila, Valdez endorsed by Make the Road Action
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Claire Valdez, the DSA-backed candidate running to unseat Juan Ardila, was endorsed by Make the Road action this week. Photo via valdez’s campaign
By Jacob Kaye
Claire Valdez, the Democratic Socialist of America-backed candidate challenging embattled lawmaker Juan Ardila in next year’s race for Assembly District 37, was endorsed this week by Make the Road Action.
The progressive advocacy organization gave Valdez their backing in her attempt to unseat Ardila, who was accused earlier this year by two women of sexual assault.
Though Make the Road Action, the sister organization of nonprofit Make the Road New York, endorsed Ardila during his first bid for the Assembly seat in 2022, they – like several other progressive organizations that originally endorsed Ardila – called on the freshman lawmaker to resign shortly after the allegations against him were made public in March.
In their endorsement announcement, shared exclusively with the Eagle, Make the Road Action’s Co-Executive Director Theo Oshiro said the immigrant advocacy organization was “proud to endorse Claire Valdez to represent our Queens neighbors in Albany.”
“As a progressive Latina, our members know how important it is to support a candidate that will fight tooth and nail for our communities,” Oshiro said. “We know we can count on Claire to fight for affordable and housing protections, workers’ rights, health care for all and quality education for immigrant and working class people.”
Valdez, who has also received endorsements from the Working Families Party and the DSA, said in a statement that she was “beyond honored to fight alongside [Make the Road Action] for a Queens that puts people over profit.”
Valdez, a union organizer, is currently the only candidate officially mounting a bid against Ardila, who has resisted calls to resign for the better part of the past year.
Despite staying in office, a number of Ardila’s colleagues and constituents have said he’s been completely ineffectual as a lawmaker. His campaign efforts have similarly stalled. Ardila has yet to report raising any funds since the allegations against him – which he officially denied three months after the allegations were reported – were first made.
He’s also lost the backing of virtually all of the progressive groups that endorsed him in his four-way race for the Democratic nomination for the seat last year. Those groups have since begun to coalesce around Valdez’s candidacy, giving her a potential leg up in the progressive district in Northwest Queens.
One major organization yet to enter the race: the Queens County Democratic Party.
The county party, led by Rep. Greg Meeks, endorsed Ardila opponent Johanna Carmona in the Democratic primary race for the seat in 2022 and has not shown any appetite to support Ardila following the allegations. The party is also unlikely to endorse Valdez, a DSA member who is similarly unlikely to seek the party’s endorsement.
Multiple sources with knowledge of the race told the Eagle last month that Carmona has been discussing a potential run during various political events in recent weeks, including at New York City’s seminal political event, the SOMOS conference, last month. Carmona has yet to officially confirm her campaign for the seat.
