Incumbent Keith Powers Seeks Full Assembly Term, Vows to Continue Housing Fight.

Keith Powers is running to keep his seat in the 74th Assembly District this November, just four months after winning it in a special election.

“I wanted to continue the work I’ve done around the housing crisis here,” Powers said when asked his primary motivation for a reelection campaign.

He won a special election in February with more than 82 percent of the vote to fill the seat left vacant by Harvey Epstein, who resigned to join the New York City Council. Powers is running uncontested in the Democratic primary after two Democratic candidates dropped out of the race in February, just weeks after Powers won the special election.

The lifelong New Yorker and East side resident is running on a platform that pushes building affordable housing across the borough, increasing funding towards childcare and schools, and maintaining safer, cleaner streets.

Powers, who spent eight years on the City Council and two years as Majority Leader, told Our Town that his recent shift to Albany has allowed him to address concerns in ways the City Council could not. As a council member, he said, he spent years introducing resolutions calling on Albany to act on housing, and now he is able to address the issue directly.

After four months in office, Powers secured expansions to rental assistance programs for seniors and tenants with disabilities, and made advances in modernizing state environmental review laws that make it “faster and cheaper” to build new housing in the city.

“Whether you’re a young new resident in the East Village or a long time resident in Murray Hill, you are facing the same [affordability] crisis,” he said.

Powers sponsored a bill that proposes expanding rent stabilization statewide and explained that “skyrocketing costs,” are making it increasingly difficult to continue living in the city.

“We need to be using every tool in our toolbox to help address affordability,” he said.

Powers noted that he is working to improve the conditions specifically for his public housing constituents, and has been “a leader in ensuring that every single community carries its weight,” by including affordable and regulated housing, and tightening tenant protections. He mentioned that the affordability crisis extends beyond renters alone, affecting small business owners and homeowners across the district as costs continue to surge on the East side.

Powers faces no opposition in the June 23 primary and is set to square off against Republican Veronica Gonzalez in the November election.