Aber Kawas on track to become 1st Palestinian Muslim woman in New York Legislature

Palestinian-American community organiser Aber Kawas has won the Democratic primary for New York State Senate District 12 in Queens, putting her on course to become the first Palestinian Muslim woman elected to the New York State Legislature if she succeeds in the general election.

Kawas defeated Assembly member Steven Raga in the open-seat race, securing nearly 60% of the vote. She gained the Democratic nomination after receiving support from New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, whose campaign also promoted democratic socialist policies, Maktoob Media reported.

Born and raised in New York to Palestinian parents, Kawas built her campaign around issues such as affordable housing, universal healthcare, immigration reform, improved public transportation, climate action, and opposition to US support for Israel’s war in Gaza.

Her campaign highlighted more than 15 years of organising work on behalf of working-class New Yorkers, including involvement in the Fight for $15 campaign, efforts against police surveillance, and immigration reform initiatives.

Kawas also said she helped establish the “Not On Our Dime” campaign with Mamdani, which seeks to prevent New York-based nonprofit organisations from financially supporting actions she describes as human rights violations against Palestinians by Israel.

She has attributed her political activism to her family’s experiences as Palestinian refugees. Kawas said her perspective was shaped by her father’s detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and his deportation from the United States when she was young. She said these experiences influenced her commitment to organising around issues affecting poor and working-class communities.

Explaining her decision to enter electoral politics, Kawas said she wanted to challenge what she views as an established political system that continues to provide US funding for Israel’s war in Gaza while reducing social welfare programmes and expanding immigration enforcement.

Her policy agenda includes support for the New York Health Act, increased affordable housing, free and faster MTA bus services, stronger tenant protections, renewable energy investment, ending New York’s cooperation with ICE, and safeguarding immigrant rights.

On foreign policy-related state issues, Kawas supports legislation known as the “Not On Our Dime” bill, which would restrict New York taxpayer funds from being used to support Israeli settler violence, prevent certain land transactions involving Palestinian territories, and prohibit the use of publicly funded infrastructure to transport weapons connected to what she describes as illegal wars. She also supports protections for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and opposes US involvement in overseas wars and regime-change efforts.

New York State Senate District 12 includes several Queens neighbourhoods, including Astoria, Sunnyside, Woodside, Long Island City, Ridgewood, Maspeth, Elmhurst, Glendale, and Jackson Heights. The district has a large immigrant and working-class population. Kawas has described her campaign as being driven by ordinary working people rather than corporations or billionaires.