Queens government worker to challenge Meng

Chuck Park, a former diplomat and government worker, launched a campaign for Congress this week, challenging Rep. Grace Meng in next year’s Democratic primary. Photo via Park

By Jacob Kaye

A former diplomat and city government worker from Queens launched a bid to unseat Rep. Grace Meng from Congress, marking only the second time Meng has had a primary challenger in the past decade.

Chuck Park, a 40-year-old Queens native who most recently served as the vice president of public affairs at the New York City Economic Development Corporation, officially launched a campaign to challenge Meng in next year’s Democratic primary.

In an interview with the Eagle, Park described Meng as an absentee representative who has gone missing when New Yorkers need her most.

“We're the hardest working borough in the entire city,” Park said. “I think that we deserve a representative in Congress that works as hard as we do, and we do not have that right now, in this particular moment, when our communities are under attack.”

Park, who said he will refuse donations from corporate political action committees or lobbyists, also accused Meng of being out of lockstep with the effort to address affordability in New York City primarily because of donations she has received from wealthy corporations and PACs, like an insurance agents lobby, Google, Allstate and Delta Airlines.

“The Trump administration is cutting Medicaid, cutting food benefits for poor families, cutting from transit projects, sending masked thugs to kidnap our friends, and neighbors, and kids off our streets,” he added. “We are literally under attack, but we're also being starved by a political establishment that lost its way and would prefer to spend its time trying to hunt down big checks from corporate donors instead of working for the working people.”

Meng, who has represented parts of Eastern, Western and Central Queens in the 6th Congressional District since 2013, has faced little competition for her seat over the years. Though she’s handedly bested a number of Republican challengers, she only faced off against insurgent Democratic candidates during her first bid for Congress in 2012 and in 2020, when two challengers together garnered around 34 percent of the vote.

Park, who categorized himself as more progressive than Meng, didn’t only have negative things to say about the incumbent.

“I think her election in 2012 was truly a high watermark for the rise of Asian Americans, and it was a proud moment for the entire community in Queens,” Park said. “But I've been disappointed to see what's happened in the 12 years since then.”

In a statement to the Eagle on Monday, Meng denied that she had fallen out of touch with voters, and remained committed to fighting the Trump administration and for the affordability issues that drove voters to the polls to vote for Zohran Mamdani.

"Representing Queens is the honor of my life, and I've never taken it for granted,” Meng said in a statement. “I'm proud to have dedicated my career to tirelessly speaking out for my neighbors, and I've secured millions of dollars for our district and won countless fights for immigrants, small businesses, workers, women, and families.”

“Right now, our communities are concerned about rising costs, their safety, and threats to Social Security and healthcare,” she added. “My priority is to continue delivering results for my district, address the affordability crisis, make healthcare more accessible and affordable, and support the hard-working people of Queens."

Park, who lives 500 feet outside of the district’s borders, was born in Flushing Hospital and grew up in the district. His parents owned – and continue to own – a small business on Roosevelt Avenue that he worked at while he was being raised in Queens.

Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential victory inspired Park to become a government worker, and he took up a job as a U.S. foreign service officer. He served in the role until 2019, when he quit in protest of the Trump administration’s family separation policies.

Park moved back to Queens where he worked with the MinKwon Center for Community Action and later as chief of staff to City Councilmember Shekar Krishnan. He left the Council in November 2024 to work at the EDC, which he left earlier this month to launch his run for Congress.

The University of Pennsylvania graduate said that he ultimately made the decision to run after a 6-year-old girl at PS 89 in Queens was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents along with her teenage brother and mother in August. The Jackson Heights family’s arrest sparked outrage from elected officials from across the borough, but Park said Meng’s response to the arrest of her own constituents was weak.

“There was one elected leader who was in a position of great power who had said nothing about it, and that was the incumbent,” Park said.

After the girl’s arrest, Meng posted to social media saying that her office was “in contact with those close to the family and we are seeking more details.”

In a statement to the Eagle this week, Meng said that her office has worked with the family and their attorneys “from day one.”

Update: This story was updated on Nov. 18 with additional comment from Meng.