Helen Qiu

She ran as a Republican for this seat in 2022, losing to Grace Lee with 23.7% of the vote, and lost City Council District 1 races to Christopher Marte in 2023 and 2025.

• Has taught as an adjunct professor at Manhattan College in the Bronx
• Founded Mamre Christian Church after graduating from Columbia University; her career includes work as a pastor, teacher, engineer and engineering manager
• Engineer and engineering executive managing projects at semiconductor companies in Silicon Valley before moving to New York in 2008 to study at Columbia University
• Vice President of the Community Education Council, 2021 to 2023
• A West Side Republican Club candidate profile from her City Council campaign says she reversed a preliminary Community Board decision to turn a NYCHA community garden into a parking lot, and was the sole mediator in an out-of-court settlement of a five-year lawsuit between two community groups
• The same profile says she successfully lobbied the Department of Education and the Mayor's Office in 2022 to let 250,000 unvaccinated children and youth attend their graduation celebrations
• Bachelor's degree from Zhongshan University (1990) and graduate degrees, including a PhD, from Reformed Seminary (2007) and Columbia University (2010)
• Naturalized U.S. citizen since 2004
• Republican candidate for Assembly District 65 in 2022; lost the Nov. 8, 2022 general election to Grace Lee with 23.7% of the vote (6,381 votes)
• Lost the City Council District 1 general elections to Christopher Marte on Nov. 7, 2023, with 30.9% of the vote, and on Nov. 4, 2025, with 28.0%
• Filed to run as a Republican for Assembly District 65 in 2026 and advanced after the June 23, 2026 Republican primary was canceled