Sarah Batchu files to run for Harvey Epstein’s Assembly seat

Sarah Batchu, a nonprofit leader and former Bill de Blasio aide, has filed to run for Assembly Member Harvey Epstein’s seat on the east side of Manhattan. 

While Batchu recently lost to the Democratic lawmaker in the June primary for a lower Manhattan City Council seat, she mounted a competitive challenge despite it being her first time running for elected office. She was a prolific fundraiser throughout the race and finished second with about 43% of the vote to Epstein’s 57% in the final round of ranked-choice voting. Now Batchu is pursuing another elected office, this time through Assembly District 74.

“I’m somebody who just ran and I’m running again because I want to restore trust in our elected leaders. I want to fight for true affordability, expanding access to health care, strengthening protections for immigrants,” Batchu told City & State. “Voters don’t want a game of status quo, politician musical chairs – they want something truly different and representative of the moment that we are in.”

State campaign finance records were updated Friday to show she’d filed to run for the district, which encompasses parts of the Lower East Side, the East Village, Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village, Gramarcy, Flatiron and Murray Hill. 

With Epstein slated to join the New York City Council soon, there will be a special election for his Assembly seat before next year’s June primary election. Batchu has technically filed to run for the primary, but she’s also seeking the Democratic county committee’s nomination for the special election. The special election will take place at some point in early 2026, likely February, though the date has yet to be set.

Batchu is joining an already crowded – and competitive – field of candidates vying to represent the district in next year’s election. Term-limited City Council Member Keith Powers filed to run last month. He too just came out of a June Democratic primary, coming second to state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal in the Manhattan borough president’s race. Like Batchu, Powers is also seeking the Democratic county committee’s nomination for the special election.

Pointing out that she’s run against a sitting elected official before, Batchu said she’s feeling good about her chances. She has far greater name recognition now than when she mounted her City Council campaign and feels that as someone who is “unapologetically on the left,” there is a strong juxtaposition between herself and Powers. 

“I’m somebody who's just ideologically different than the council member. This is somebody who left the Progressive Caucus,” Batchu said. “He has his reasons for that I’m sure and we’ll get into that in the race.” (In early 2023, fifteen City Council members, including Powers, left the Progressive Caucus after leaders asked them to sign a new statement of principals including a commitment to the goal to shrink the NYPD.)

Democratic socialist Josh Arnon and Kevin O’Keefe, founder and president of the St. Vartan Park Conservancy, have also filed to run in the primary. Marquis Jenkins, a local district leader and director of advocacy for Housing Works, is strongly mulling entering the race, Our Town recently reported. While Community Board 6 member Gabriel Turzo initially filed to run, he told City & State that he is no longer going forward with his campaign. 

It’s unclear who Epstein will ultimately support, if anyone. “I have no thoughts right now,” he said. “Everyone has a right to run. That’s what democracy allows to happen.”

News of Batchu entering the race comes as most of the city and state’s political realm is in Puerto Rico for the annual Somos conference. Batchu said she stayed in New York City to work on her campaign.

“I’m not afraid of a challenge. While everybody is out in Puerto Rico, you know, shaking hands, taking photos, going to receptions, I'm here, rolling up my sleeves and on the phones, ready to fundraise and hopefully qualify for matching funds pretty soon,” Batchu said. “It’s not about the glamor and glitz – I’m somebody who has lived and worked in this community.”