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Ardila announces campaign to replace Nolan
BY BILL PARRY
New York Democrat Suraj
Patel will mount a primary
challenge against Congresswoman
Carolyn Maloney for
the third straight election
cycle. Patel, a lawyer, activist,
lecturer on business ethics
at NYU and former staffer
in the Obama administration,
announced his campaign to
thwart Maloney, the chair of
the powerful House Oversight
Committee, as she seeks a 16th
term in Congress.
Patel came within four
points of defeating Maloney in
one of 2020’s closest primary
races.
“Democrats need a new
generation of leaders. This is
a new decade, a new district,
and as we enter year three of
the pandemic, we’ve got new
challenges, which means we
need a government that proactively
develops 21st-century
solutions to 21st-century problems,”
Patel said. “I will solve
these problems because I have
lived them.”
When his parents emigrated
from India in the late 1960s
in search of economic opportunity,
they fit three generations
of his family in a two-bedroom
apartment over the bodega
they ran. His father got a night
job fixing subway trucks, and
eventually, they started a family
business in the hospitality
sector.
“I understand what our
small businesses are going
through – my earliest memory
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.18 COM | FEB. 25 - MARCH 3, 2022
is stacking newspapers in my
family’s bodega before my dad
went off to his job as an MTA
worker, and for the last two
years, I’ve fought off foreclosures
for the family business,
making sure workers have
healthcare, jobs and landed on
their feet,” Patel said.
He worked on both of
President Obama’s campaigns
and went on to be an
associate on the White House
Advance Team. During the
Trump administration, Patel
became a full-time organizer,
working to support a new
generation of American leaders.
When Patel ran against
Maloney in 2020, the primary
results were delayed
for six weeks due to a court
battle over absentee ballots.
Around 12,500 ballots were
never counted, so Patel went
to court fighting for election
reform. He also served as a
volunteer attorney for the
ACLU when Trump’s Muslim
Ban was enacted.
“I understand that with
Republicans attacking democracy
nationally, we need to
stand up for it locally,” Patel
said. “I went to court here after
thousands of New Yorkers
had their votes thrown out,
and we changed how ballots
are designed, distributed and
counted. I understand that
Democrats need to stand up
for science, safety and our
schools, and I will be that
Democrat.”
Patel enters a crowded
Democratic primary field that
includes housing advocate
Maya Contreras and community
organizer Rana Abdelhamid
of Astoria. Maloney has
represented New York’s 12th
Congressional District since
1993.
Reach reporter Bill Parry
by e-mail at bparry@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone at (718)
260–4538.
BY BILL PARRY
Maspeth native and community
activist Juan Ardila
recently launched his campaign
to replace Assemblywoman
Cathy Nolan, a week
after she decided to not seek
re-election following a 38-
year career representing
western Queens in Albany.
The progressive Democrat
mounted an unsuccessful
challenge against
Councilman Robert Holden
last year, and he became the
first to announce his run for
the 37th Assembly District
since Nolan announced her
impending retirement.
The redrawn 37th District
includes much of western
Ridgewood, the western
corner of Maspeth, and parts
of Woodside, Sunnyside and
the Hunters Point section of
Long Island City.
“I’m running for state
Assembly because Queens
residents deserve affordable
housing, improved public
transit and a plan to combat
climate change,” Ardila
said. “Growing up in an immigrant
family, I have experienced
how important it is
to have representation that
understands how government
can impact our lives. In
Albany, I will be a champion
for our seniors, our workers
and our tenants. I am excited
to fight for a better future
for all New Yorkers.”
Ardila offers an alternative
to the moderate Nolan,
who was a staunch supporter
of the Amazon proposal
that would have built an
HQ2 campus in Long Island
City, a project that the ecommerce
giant scuttled after
opposition from progressive
western Queens elected
officials.
“I thank Cathy Nolan
for her decades of service
to our community. I believe
it is time for a change,” Ardila
told QNS Thursday. “I
am running to make sure
that the community’s needs
are at the center of all decision
making. I opposed the
Amazon development plan
because there was no legitimate
reason for taxpayers
to subsidize a trillion-dollar
corporation. The reality is
that Amazon is still hiring
and expanding in NYC, even
without tax breaks, because
we have the greatest workers
here.”
Ardila is a lifelong
Queens resident and firstgeneration
American,
the son of a Colombian father
and Honduran-Cuban
mother.
He said he understands
the hardships of workingclass
families and he’s running
to improve the public
schools, the criminal justice
system and housing policies.
The state Assembly candidate
attended St. Adalbert
Catholic Academy in Elmhurst
for elementary and
middle school, then Archbishop
Molloy High School
in Briarwood and later
earned his B.A. in political
science from Fordham University.
He then got his master’s
degree in public administration
with a concentration in
public policy analysis from
New York University.
Ardila grew up in a working
class, immigrant household.
When he was 17, he
said, he nearly lost his mother
to deportation after she
was denied her residency.
Just a few years later, some
of his family members in
Honduras faced persecution
from gang violence.
During his campaign
against Holden, Ardila said
he regretted racist and antigay
language he used in social
media posts as a teenager,
and following his apology
he went on to gain the endorsements
of several highprofile
city and state leaders
like state Senator Jessica
Ramos and Assemblywoman
Catalina Cruz.
Read more on QNS.com.
Reach reporter Bill Parry
by e-mail at bparry@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone at
(718) 260–4538.
JUAN ARDILA
SURAJ PATEL
Patel launches third Democratic primary
challenge against Congresswoman Maloney
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