Astoria nonprofit founder officially joins all-DSA race to replace Mamdani

Rana Abdelhamid (center) officially launched her campaign for Assembly District 36 on Tuesday, Nov. 25. 

Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye

By Jacob Kaye

A longtime nonprofit leader from Astoria officially launched her campaign to succeed Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Assembly this week, a move that turns the contest for his open seat into a rare, all-Democratic Socialists of America member showdown.

Rana Abdelhamid, a DSA member and former candidate for Congress, kicked off her campaign for Assembly District 36 on Tuesday, vowing to implement Mamdani’s affordability agenda in Albany if elected.

Abdelhamid, who runs the women’s self-defense and social services nonprofit Malikah, said her campaign was centered around the same affordability issues that launched Mamdani to City Hall.

“This is about the fact that we need an Astoria and Long Island City where people can stay,” she said during her campaign launch at a restaurant in Astoria’s “Little Egypt.”

But Abdelhamid isn’t alone.

Abdelhamid’s campaign creates an unusual dynamic in the race to replace Mamdani. While DSA candidates across the city are often pitted against moderate Democratic candidates, the race for the vacant Assembly district currently features only democratic socialist candidates. Also in the race are Mary Jobida, who previously ran for the Assembly in District 37, and Diana Moreno, an activist who is largely expected to receive DSA’s endorsement.

Abdelhamid said on Tuesday that she “respects” DSA’s endorsement process and doesn’t see their likely support of Moreno as a campaign-killing obstacle. Instead, Abdelhamid said she will rely on connections she’s made through political organizing over the past decade and on Astoria’s Muslim, Middle Eastern and North African communities, which voted in large numbers for Mamdani earlier this month.

“I’ve been here for close to two decades doing the work,” Abdelhamid said. “People know me, whether it's NYCHA leaders or whether it's Community Education Council leaders, whether it's tenant organizers or whether it's people organizing around food and immigration, I have those relationships.”

Abdelhamid was raised in Astoria. Her path into politics began when, as a teen, a man tried to rip off her headscarf during an Islamophobic attack. She later decided that her training in martial arts should be shared with other women who may experience similar dangers.

Abdelhamid began leading self-defense classes for women, a project that eventually turned into Malikah, her nonprofit.

The 32-year-old launched a campaign to unseat former Rep. Carolyn Maloney in 2021 but dropped out after the Queens portion of the district was eliminated during redistricting.

Some who backed Abdelhamid during her congressional bid stood by her side during her campaign launch on Tuesday. The 2021 campaign has also given her a boost financially – the approximately $140,000 she’s raised over the past month mostly came from her former campaign account.

The money will be needed.

Moreno, who serves as the co-chair of Queens DSA, on Tuesday announced that her campaign had raised $41,000 since officially launching last Monday. With matching funds, the campaign expects that figure to hit $113,000.

Moreno, who previously worked at immigration nonprofit NICE, said in a statement that she’s looking forward to “a spirited campaign.”

“We’re confident that the people of Assembly District 36, an overwhelmingly 81 percent of whom voted for Mayor-elect Mamdani in the Democratic primary, will choose to continue his legacy of democratic socialism in the State Assembly so we can deliver on his affordability agenda,” she said. “We will continue building a movement to enact universal childcare, fight for tenants’ rights and affordable housing, and defend our immigrant neighbors from Trump’s cruel deportation machine.”

Jobida, who is also a DSA member, has filed to run for the seat but has yet to formally launch her campaign. She told the Eagle earlier this month that she was running to “fight for authentic representation of the people who have lived here for decades and continue to face the ongoing challenges of gentrification, as well as to stand up for immigrants’ rights.”

Mamdani has yet to weigh in on the race to fill his seat, which he’ll vacate in the coming weeks ahead of his swearing-in in January.

The special election to fill the seat is likely to be held in the first months of 2026.