State Assembly Member - District 26
Edward C. Braunstein
Has represented the 26th Assembly District in northeast Queens since 2011, after first winning the seat in 2010, and chairs the Assembly Corporations, Authorities and Commissions Committee.
Where they stand
Bail, policing and criminal law
Sponsors bills, passed by both houses in 2026, to cover texts, emails and direct messages under second-degree aggravated harassment and to bar scrap dealers from selling metals used by critical infrastructure providers. Voted against the Keep Police Radio Public Act and a 2026 law relating to the location of retail adult-use dispensaries near schools and houses of worship.
Taxes and state spending
Voted for the bill enacting major parts of the 2026-27 state budget's fiscal plan, which passed the Assembly 91-52 and became law in May 2026. Voted against the state's 2024 capital projects budget.
Issues Edward is raising
Co-op and condo homeownership costs
Sponsored laws extending a partial property tax abatement for co-op and condo homes in cities with populations of one million or more and letting ground leases be extended or renewed before they expire. Says he introduced a bill giving co-ops a property tax abatement for capital upgrades that cut carbon emissions, to ease compliance with the city's Local Law 97.
Energy, utilities and climate
Sponsors a bill, passed by both houses in 2026, giving the public virtual access to Public Service Commission proceedings and electronic filing, and sponsored a 2025 law removing the salary of the state energy research authority's chair. Voted for a climate change adaptation cost recovery program and fund in 2024.
Medical aid in dying
Voted for the Medical Aid in Dying Act, which covers a terminally ill patient's request for and use of medication for medical aid in dying. It passed the Assembly 81-67 in April 2025 and was signed into law in February 2026.
Local ballot questions and charter commissions
Voted against a 2025 bill to end the rule that bars all other local referendum questions from the ballot whenever a city charter commission puts a proposal on it. The governor vetoed the bill.
Background
Based in Bay Terrace (raised in Bayside)
Born and raised in Bayside, he lives in Bay Terrace with his wife and three children.
- Member of the Assembly Health, Judiciary, Rules, and Ways and Means committees
- Former legislative assistant in the Assembly Speaker's New York City office
- B.S. in finance, University at Albany; attended New York Law School and passed the bar exam in February 2009
- Re-elected in 2024 over Robert J. Speranza, 27,022 votes (67.7%) to 12,738 (31.9%), and in 2022, 18,590 (54.4%) to 15,551 (45.5%)
- Advanced to the 2026 general election without a primary contest; the June 23, 2026 Democratic primary was canceled
- His Assembly biography lists laws from his bills: a 2011 ban on the substances known as bath salts (Chapter 130 of 2011), making the unlicensed practice of law a felony (Chapter 492 of 2012), requiring campuses to notify local police of violent crimes and missing persons (Chapter 486 of 2014), and creating the crime of unlawful dissemination or publication of an intimate image (Chapter 109 of 2019)
- His Assembly biography says he has introduced bills to cap property tax assessment increases for co-ops and condos, give tax credits to small businesses that hire senior citizens, bar price gouging during emergencies, protect consumer privacy, bar sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school, and expand naloxone availability
Support
No endorsements beyond the Democratic nomination were found as of Sept. 30, 2026.
Money
$114K
raised
Top donors: CAIPA PAC, BW PAC, Ny State Laborers Pac - State Fund
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