State Assembly Member - District 50
Emily Gallagher
Assembly member since January 2021 for the North Brooklyn neighborhoods of Greenpoint and Williamsburg; she chairs the Assembly's Commission on Solid Waste Management.
Issues Emily is raising
Climate, energy and the environment
Supports banning fracked gas in New York and legalizing balcony-mounted personal solar panels. Sponsored bills on portable solar devices and the No Toxics Tent Act, both passed by the Legislature in 2026, and voted for the 2024 law making companies that contributed significantly to greenhouse gas buildup share climate adaptation costs. Her campaign and Assembly biography credit her with leading the 2023 All-Electric Buildings Act, meant to phase out fossil gas hookups in new construction.
Rents and affordable housing
Supports creating a state Social Housing Development Authority to build housing with rent capped at 25 percent of a tenant's income, and sponsors a bill to establish such an authority. Supports a Rent Guidelines Board for commercial leases in New York City. Voted for the 2024-25 state budget bill covering education, labor, housing and family assistance.
Taxes and the state budget
Wants to raise taxes on individuals making more than $1 million and on the most profitable corporations. Voted against the bill carrying major parts of the 2026-27 state fiscal plan, which passed the Assembly 91-52 and was signed into law in May 2026.
Health care and addiction treatment
Supports the New York Health Act to create a single-payer health care system in the state. Co-sponsored and voted for the medical aid in dying law signed in 2026, and sponsored a 2025 law replacing 'addict' in state law with 'persons with substance use disorder'. Sponsors a bill of rights for addiction treatment patients, passed by the Assembly in May 2026.
Corporate transparency, consumer protection and workers' rights
Prime-sponsored the LLC Transparency Act on disclosing who owns limited liability companies; the Assembly passed it in June 2023 and the Senate's version was signed into law that December. Sponsors a bill on public employees' right to strike that repeals some current provisions, and voted for a 2026 law on the attorney general's power over unfair, deceptive and abusive business practices.
Background
Before taking office she worked as an educator and public historian, including at the Tenement Museum, and co-chaired the neighborhood group Neighbors Allied for Good Growth. She won the June 23, 2026 Democratic primary with 85.5 percent of the vote.
- Elected to the Assembly in 2020 after defeating incumbent Joseph Lentol in the June 23, 2020 Democratic primary with 52.7 percent; took office Jan. 1, 2021
- Won the 2020, 2022 and 2024 general elections with 97.0, 97.7 and 98.0 percent of the vote
- Won the June 23, 2026 Democratic primary over Andrew Bodiford with 85.5 percent
- Chair of the Assembly Commission on Solid Waste Management
- Member of the Assembly committees on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse; Consumer Affairs and Protection; Correction; Election Law; and Transportation
- Member of the Legislative Women's Caucus and of the Assembly task forces on New Americans and on Women's Issues
- Educator and public historian at the Tenement Museum and other local institutions
- Community affairs director for Hostelling International from 2015; worked as national community affairs assistant director for HI USA
- Co-chaired the activist group Neighbors Allied for Good Growth from 2008 to 2015
- Wrote a weekly column for the local newspaper The Greenpoint Star starting in 2015
- Born in Fairfax, Virginia, and raised in the Rochester area
- Earned an undergraduate degree from Ithaca College in 2006 and moved to Brooklyn that year
Support
Zohran Mamdani
Mayor
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Representative
- BL
Brad Lander
Former Comptroller
Kristen Gonzalez
State Senator
Julia Salazar
State Senator
Money
$66K
raised
Top donors: Teresa Toro, Courage To Change, Downlink LLC