Rana Abdelhamid files to run for Mamdani’s seat

Rana Abdelhamid has filed to run for Assembly District 36, the western Queens district currently represented by New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, according to state Board of Elections records.

Abdelhamid had previously told City & State she was considering a run, and Wednesday’s filing makes it official.

Abdelhamid is a Muslim community organizer in Astoria and the founder of the women’s self-defense organization Malikah. She previously ran for Congress in 2022, when she launched a primary challenge against then-Rep. Carolyn Maloney, whose district included both the Upper East Side and western Queens. She ended up dropping out of the race after the district’s boundaries were redrawn to exclude Queens.

Abdelhamid, who is Egyptian American, is deeply involved with the Middle Eastern and North African community in Astoria and helped lead a successful push to get the state to collect more accurate demographic data on MENA communities, members of which state records previously classified as racially white.

Abdelhamid is also a member of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America and previously told City & State she plans to seek the group’s endorsement. But she is not the only DSA member looking to succeed Mamdani in the Assembly. DSA leaders have already recruited former Queens DSA co-chair Diana Moreno to run for the seat, as City & State previously reported.

Both Abdelhamid and Moreno will have the opportunity to make the case for their candidacies to DSA members at an Electoral Working Group forum Wednesday night. Sources in DSA told City & State that Moreno has a lot of support within the socialist organization and will likely get the endorsement, even with Abdelhamid in the race.

Abdelhamid did not immediately respond to a request for comment on her filing.