Lester Chang: ‘The people have spoken that voted me in’

Just a few months after Lester Chang successfully beat longtime Assembly Member 

Peter Abbate, questions about Chang’s residency seemed to threaten his ability to take his seat in the lower chamber. There was some uncertainty about whether he lived in Brooklyn, rather than Manhattan, for the required 12 months before Election Day. In the end, Assembly Democrats decided against expelling Chang. 

Now four months into his tenure, Chang says he’s been working to build relationships with members of both sides of the aisle to meet the needs of his constituents which he says are largely centered around “family core values” including education, public safety and quality of life. While the Republican Party continues to make gains with Asian American voters, the Assembly member asserted the sentiments of the community have shifted to align with the GOP amid the recent reports of hate crimes against the Asian community. 

City & State caught up with the newly elected Assembly member – just before the grand opening of his long-awaited district office in southern Brooklyn – to discuss his legislative priorities amid state budget negotiations and his perspective on the GOP making gains with Asian American voters.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

As legislative leaders continue to be engrossed in budget negotiations, what are some of the top legislative priorities that you hope will be reflected in the final budget? 

I really hope it’s certainly bail reform. That's been my campaign – hopefully bail reform and some other issues. As we see the quality of life and education are falling to the wayside. So the only thing that’s left is bail reform. 

What do you make of the recent reporting that the governor and legislative leaders have come to a tentative agreement on bail reform?

One thing that is unfortunate is our conference is small and we had to depend on the other side. I hope they do the right thing because people in New York City and the whole of New York state, they've been victimized by these perpetrators who've been released. So I hope that the leadership – in their wisdom and seeing the polls – do something about it. I think the governor is doing this; she saw it and she recognized it. I hope that the two leaders can see that too. I just hope. I want to see the judges having more of a say about having cashless bail or not. And also factor in recidivism and repeat offenders are incorporated as a factor for cashless bail. 

After you were elected, there was a lot of controversy about your rent-stabilized apartment in Manhattan and whether you met the residency requirement to represent your district. There was speculation over whether Assembly Democrats would vote to expel you due to the questions surrounding your residency. Ultimately, that did not happen. Will this have an impact on your willingness to work across the aisle with Democrats on legislative issues?

Well, they saw I met the residency requirement. The first thing is the people have spoken that voted me in. Part of my job – even as a former military – I don't look at who's on aisles. I care about constituents' work and I will work anything anyway, even (with) the other side to help out my constituents. So that's never been an issue at all. I've been on the job for four months, it's a learning curve for me. It's a brand new job for me as well. Building relationships takes time; I've been very friendly and professional to everyone on both sides of the aisle. So it takes time for me to build the relationship compared to my previous opponent and predecessor. He's been doing his relationship for a long time. So I feel that given a little time, hopefully, my constituents will see the results. There’s a lot of things to learn, no question about that – the nuances of this office.

What was the hold-up with opening up your district office?

My grand opening is this Friday. The thing is just finding an office, a lot of offices were restaurant storefronts. So I knew it will take months, if not longer, and it’s expensive to convert it to a working office. I mean, literally converting it into a working office storefront with internet and at the right location took some time. No question about that. I didn't realize the budget is very tight, and it's not realistic within the market for that. So it took time. The budget was about $5,000 and it's very hard to find a storefront under $5,000 a month – very hard.

From your perspective, why is the GOP making gains with Asian-American voters? How do you see this shaping the 2024 election cycle?

Well, the sentiments have changed for Asian people. Their core family values have been very similar to Republicans, even if they’re registered Democrats, it’s definitely pro-education, charter schools, quality of life and public safety. There has been a huge amount of Asian hate crime in my community and it hasn’t let up – it's been continuous. If that continues to grow, I suspect that my community will change parties. We want meritocracy, not lottery.

The Brooklyn Republican Party had its endorsed City Council candidate, Jack Ho, drop out and get replaced by Vito LaBella. Do you think the party should be supporting an Asian candidate in that Asian-majority district that overlaps with yours, rather than a white candidate?

The most important thing is anyone who has the desire to run. You shouldn't be restricted on who or (what their) racial profile is. People should have the right to run for office. Secondly, I believe in the primary (elections). That's where the voters choose who best represents (them).  I think that's a fair process, a primary filters everything out for those who represent the best message. Everyone, anyone should have the right to run for office.

How do you plan to address the concerns of your Asian American constituents throughout your tenure in the Assembly? How will you ensure that the politics of Albany doesn't get in the way?

Well, I represent everyone in my community, not just the Asian community itself. As I explored longer, and when I was doing my campaign, it doesn't matter what your profile is. All they care about are the three concerns: public safety, education, quality of life as well as an opportunity to have a good paying job. That's all universal. There are always a lot of nuances for each individual constituent. It could be parking tickets, garbage, or immigration. But overall, it's a basic core family value we all want: education, good jobs, safety, and the subway.