Benjamin Yee
About
Benjamin Yee is a lifelong resident of New York's 66th Assembly District, a civics educator, tech innovator, and open government advocate who has served as a Democratic State Committee Member for nearly a decade. He is running for State Assembly to lower the cost of living for working-class New Yorkers, fix broken systems, and make Albany work for everyday people.
Democratic State Committee Member for nearly a decade
Civics educator and tech innovator
Open government advocate
Former researcher for Transit Workers Local 100
Created tools for open legislation at the New York State Senate
Coordinated Manhattan Young Democrats' statewide partnerships for Marriage Equality in 2009
Led 2016 State Democratic Party resolution for non-cooperation with ICE
Where they stand
Climate
Ben Yee advocates for lowering costs by making the biggest polluters pay their fair share instead of working people footing the bill for fossil fuel expansion, building a more resilient grid, and stopping locking into the past.
Healthcare
Ben Yee states that rising costs, hospital closures, and unchecked consolidation have left communities without necessary care, and that healthcare must serve patients and reduce emergencies, not just manage them more expensively.
Housing
Ben Yee supports a vacancy tax, pied-à-terre tax, using state land for at least 50% affordable housing, creating a dedicated affordable housing fund, replacing AMI with cost of living metrics, restoring home rule for NYC housing policy, requiring regional transportation plans to reduce rent pressure, increasing mandatory affordable housing for tax breaks to 35%, providing grants for municipal development plans, and strengthening tenant protections including ending the housing court blacklist, housing access vouchers, housing court reform, and fully funding right-to-counsel.
Their priorities
Issues Benjamin is raising that aren't a shared debate across the field.
Animal Wellness & Subsidy Reform
Ben Yee supports expanding low-cost animal wellness services and redirecting outdated horse racing subsidies to public schools.
Government Transparency & Ethics
Ben Yee supports banning non-fiscal policy riders from the budget, strengthening NYC home rule, streamlining the courts, creating a truly independent ethics body in the state constitution, and making legislative results more transparent.
Innovation & Job Creation
Ben Yee supports leveraging regional transportation and strategic investment in high-tech industries to turn New York into a global hub for innovation, ensuring future jobs are built in the state.
Sexual Violence Prevention
Ben Yee states that sexual violence is preventable and that evidence-based approaches should be prioritized, noting that over 60% of reported cases do not receive a meaningful investigation.
Others running for State Assembly Member - District 66