In AD23 race, all three candidates are seeking their first victory

Democrats Mike Scala and Pesach Osina are battling it out in Assembly District 23.  Eagle file photo by Ryan Schwach

By Ryan Schwach

Somebody has to win the race for Queens’ 23rd Assembly District.

That would be obvious, if not for the election records of the three men vying to replace retiring Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato in the Rockaway peninsula-centered seat.

The three candidates gunning for the job, longtime Democratic staffer Pesach Osina, attorney Mike Scala and Army veteran Republican Thomas Sullivan, have all run for public office before, but the trio has come up short each time.

Combined, the candidates have run 12 campaigns in the last decade, with zero wins between them.

That record will soon change. Osina and Scala are currently facing off in the Democratic primary race and Sullivan has qualified to run in November’s general election. Regardless of who wins the Democratic primary, both candidates will appear on the November ballot after Scala and Osina each secured third-party ballot lines.

“Someone has to win this,” Scala told the Eagle.

Scala, like his primary opponent and the Republican waiting in the wings for the general election, thinks it's his turn for victory.

As an attorney, Scala has represented clients involved in a number of local issues.

He is the lead counsel for QueensLink, a group trying to bring a longshot subway connection to Southeast Queens. He also represented community members in an effort to stop a homeless shelter from opening near local schools.

Last year, he was named chairman of Queens Defenders’ board of directors as the public defense organization dealt with the fallout from its former executive director’s arrest and criminal conviction.

The attorney is running this campaign as an insurgent, against Osina and the Democratic Party.

“We are running an outsider race,” he said. “I think when people know what's going on, they're much more likely to support the outsider, insurgent campaign, because people are not happy with party leadership right now.”

Scala has run four times before.

His most recent attempt was in 2021, when he ran for City Council District 32. He finished second in a ranked-choice Democratic primary against progressive Felicia Singh. Singh went on to lose to now-Councilmember Joann Ariola, a Republican, in the general election.

Scala was the Democratic nominee for the same district in 2017, but lost to Republican Councilmember Eric Ulrich that year. He has also run for Congress against Representative Gregory Meeks.

His Democratic primary opponent has made a similar number of attempts at public office.

Osina, in 2021, came about 1,200 votes shy of beating now-Councilmember Selvena Brooks-Powers in a special election for City Council District 31.

He also finished second in a special election in 2013 for the same City Council seat, losing to Donovan Richards, who served in the seat until being elected borough president.

But the 2026 bid is the best shot Osina has had yet at winning.

He has significantly outraised Scala and currently far surpasses the attorney in local and institutional support.

Osina has the support of the Queens County Democratic Party, Pheffer Amato, her predecessor Philip Goldfeder and a significant cohort of other local electeds.

“It's heartwarming and it's really amazing, the responses that we're getting,” Osina said.

He is betting that the local endorsements and his experience in politics will appeal to voters.

“We're working it harder than any other candidate out there,” he said. “I'm excited about that.”

The two local Democrats are mostly in lockstep on local issues. They support the plan to build the QueensLink, which is facing some headwinds from the city, and they also both support the effort to build a trauma center in the Rockaways.

The elephant in the room

Sullivan, a native of Breezy Point and a retired Army colonel, knows about running in Assembly District 23. The 2026 campaign marks his third attempt at the seat, having lost to Pheffer Amato in 2022 and 2024.

The 2022 campaign saw Sullivan come about as close as a candidate could without winning.

Republican Thomas Sullivan, running his third race for the Assembly, will face whoever wins June’s Democratic primary.  Photo via X 

Energized by a three-to-one Republican turnout in the district’s conservative sections brought on by a close gubernatorial race between Lee Zeldin and Governor Kathy Hochul, Sullivan was ahead by more than two hundred votes on election night.

Following a recount and a slew of legal challenges from both Sullivan and Pheffer Amato, the incumbent ultimately secured reelection by 15 votes. Election results weren’t finalized in the race until early January.

Sullivan also ran against State Senator Joseph Addabbo in 2020, prior to the state’s redistricting that moved Addabbo’s seat out of the peninsula.

“If I went down to South Carolina, I'd probably be elected governor, [but] this is Queens,” quipped the Republican, who would be the only GOPer representing the borough in Albany should he be elected.

Sullivan can mostly sit back for now, without a primary himself, and watch Osina and Scala duke it out for the Democratic nomination.

“We don't know who we're running against, but it doesn't change our approach,” he said.

Early voting in the election is currently underway and will conclude on Sunday, June 21. Election day is Tuesday, June 23.