Longtime activist and immigration advocate enters race for vacated Astoria seat with DSA backing
From Campaign Volunteer to Candidate
Diana Moreno spent the last several months knocking on doors asking New Yorkers to vote for her longtime friend Zohran Mamdani. That effort paid off with Mamdani’s historic mayoral victory, and now Moreno is preparing to return to those same doors–this time asking neighbors to vote for her.
The lifelong activist and elected leader in the Democratic Socialists of America officially launched her campaign Monday to succeed Mamdani in his progressive Astoria Assembly district. According to Queens Daily Eagle, Moreno received an overwhelmingly positive response at a DSA forum last week, with approximately 96 percent of members voting to support her run.
An Unlikely Candidate Answers the Call
“This wasn’t my five-year plan,” Moreno told the Eagle in a coffee shop near the Astoria apartment she shares with her partner and 14-month-old child. She had initially declined when approached by fellow organizers who suggested she run for office. “I was recruited by a lot of comrades that told me, ‘You should consider this. You would be good at this.’ I initially said no.”
The turning point came as Moreno watched current events unfold. “Witnessing what is happening in our country as a whole, witnessing the rising authoritarianism of the Trump administration, the sort of dismantling of social safety nets, the abuses of ICE agents at 26 Federal Plaza, I felt compelled to play a role in fighting for my kid’s future,” she explained.
A Life Shaped by Activism
Like Mamdani, Moreno immigrated to the United States at a young age and comes from a family where activism runs deep. Her grandfather was a union activist as a bus driver in Ecuador, and her father was politically active in college. She recalled her first act of protest: wearing an anti-war shirt to school in Lakeland, Florida, not long after her family moved during George W. Bush’s presidency.
“It was very Southern, highly segregated, not what I watched on TV growing up,” she said of Lakeland. “I grew up watching Full House and the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. It was not like that.”
An internship at the Queens-based immigration nonprofit Make the Road New York brought Moreno to Astoria, where she finally felt at home. “I remember coming to Jackson Heights and living for a summer here, and feeling like this is the first time since I moved to this country that it feels like home,” she recalled.
Building a Progressive Career
In 2019, Moreno found a position with NICE, another Queens-based immigration nonprofit, where she worked until 2023, leaving as deputy director. “I was living in Astoria, working in Jackson Heights, a very sort of Queens-centric life,” she said. “Working with undocumented immigrants that were going through layers of neglect and trauma through the pandemic, because they didn’t have access to the same benefits that other workers did.”
Inspired by Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s 2018 congressional upset, Moreno became more entrenched in leftist organizing and joined the DSA. During Sanders’ 2020 campaign, she worked with an upstart Assembly candidate named Zohran Mamdani. “Zohran was the next thing,” she said.
Priority: Universal Childcare
Moreno’s favorite of Mamdani’s three campaign proposals is universal childcare, which she identified as her number one legislative priority. “This one’s deeply personal to me,” she explained. “Childcare costs are crazy, and Astoria has a lot of young parents.”
She remembers meeting a young Latino couple while canvassing for Mamdani who told her they were moving to New Jersey due to high costs. “Child care costs are driving working parents out of the city,” she said, articulating a challenge facing countless New York families.
Moreno also emphasized affordable housing and tenants’ rights as key issues. District 36 includes the Queensbridge, Ravenswood, and Astoria NYCHA complexes, which together constitute the largest public housing development in the country. “I think ensuring that our renters, myself included, have strong tenant protections, is really important,” she stated.
A Crowded Progressive Primary
Moreno isn’t the only DSA member hoping to capitalize on Mamdani’s victory. Fellow DSA members Rana Abdelhamid and Mary Jobaida have also filed to run for the seat, setting up a potential battle within progressive ranks.
Jobaida told the Eagle she felt left out of the endorsement process, calling it “discrimination” in a social media post. “I am here 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,” she stated.
Abdelhamid, a nonprofit leader who ran for Congress in 2022 before redistricting moved her out of her intended district, could not be reached for comment.
The Special Election Factor
Mamdani’s vacating of the seat will likely trigger a special election, which could give the establishment Queens Democratic Party an opportunity to nominate its own candidate. The Queens Democrats could attempt to reclaim the power they lost when Mamdani primaried and defeated former incumbent Aravella Simotas in 2020.
“I think this seat is symbolic, because it’s obviously our future mayor’s district that he leaves,” Moreno said. “It really is a privilege to have the opportunity to sort of continue the legacy that he’s leaving behind, to continue serving our district.”
The “People’s Republic of Astoria”
The district’s importance extends beyond local politics. Mamdani won 70 percent of the vote in his home district during the mayoral election. The area, overlapping with districts represented by Council Member Tiffany Cabán, State Senator Kristen Gonzalez, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is the only place in the country represented by democratic socialists at all levels of government.
This concentration of progressive political power makes District 36 a crucial testing ground for democratic socialist governance and a symbol of the left’s potential in urban America.
Looking Ahead
Moreno called Mamdani’s victory “a shot in the arm” for DSA. “We feel that we have the responsibility to build on this historic victory,” she said. “I don’t think that folks are interested in making the mistake of being a shiny, bright light that burns out pretty fast We’re still very much strategizing around seats that are winnable.”
Whether Moreno ultimately wins the DSA endorsement and the seat itself, her candidacy represents the continuation of a progressive movement that has fundamentally altered New York City politics. “It would just be an honor to sort of follow in his footsteps,” she concluded.
Mamdami: His focus on mobility reframes the meaning of freedom.
Zohran Mamdani has the vibe of someone who reads the terms and conditions.
Mamdami: His focus on economic justice struck a chord with working-class residents.
Zohran Mamdani has the vibe of a mayor who would actually read the community feedback section.
His governance style is “confident, confused, inconsistent.”
His ideas are basically aesthetic with no substance.