State Assembly Member - District 35
Larinda C. Hooks
Has represented the 35th Assembly District, which includes East Elmhurst, Corona, LeFrak City, Rego Park and Forest Hills in Queens, since January 2025.
Issues Larinda is raising
Affordable housing and housing finance
Supports creating affordable housing for working-class and low-income families, spurring more housing development, protecting residents from eviction and displacement, and improving infrastructure to curb flooding. Sponsored laws raising New York City's housing finance borrowing cap and per-home modernization funds.
Jobs, wages and living costs
Supports raising the minimum wage and addressing wage theft, and wants local development projects to use union labor for construction and for the jobs that follow. Supports cost-of-living adjustments to help families keep pace with rising costs. Sponsored the 2025 law authorizing New York City to discontinue the parkland use of certain land in Flushing Meadows Corona Park and alienate it.
Public schools and school libraries
Supports fully funding public schools, expanding the community schools model, and providing resources from early childhood education to free or low-cost after-school programs. Voted for the Freedom to Read Act on school library collections, which the governor vetoed in December 2025.
Public transit
Supports expanding the Fair Fares program, increasing funding for trains and buses, and tougher penalties for people who assault transit workers.
Health care and reproductive health
Voted for the medical aid in dying law, covering terminally ill patients' requests for medication, which was signed in February 2026. Sponsored a bill barring prisons and jails from turning away visitors because they are menstruating, wearing a menstrual product or have a contraceptive device; it passed both houses in June 2026.
Background
Based in East Elmhurst and Corona
Born and raised in East Elmhurst and Corona, she is a New York City public school graduate, worked at Elmcor Youth & Adult Activities for more than a decade and has served as the district's female Democratic district leader.
- Member of the New York State Assembly for District 35 since Jan. 1, 2025
- Won the Nov. 5, 2024 general election with 18,978 votes (98.7%), after winning the June 25, 2024 Democratic primary over Hiram Monserrate with 2,128 votes (59.1%)
- Advanced to the Nov. 3, 2026 general election on the Democratic and Working Families lines after both parties' 2026 primaries for the seat were canceled
- Member of the Assembly committees on Aging; Banks; Economic Development, Job Creation, Commerce and Industry; Libraries and Education Technology; Science and Technology; and Transportation
- Member of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Legislative Caucus, the Legislative Women's Caucus, the Assembly's Black Task Force and the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force
- Has served as female Democratic district leader for Assembly District 35
- Worked at Elmcor Youth & Adult Activities, Inc. for more than a decade, including as director of Senior Services and Economic Development, and served as vice chairperson of its board
- Worked for the New York City School Construction Authority and the East Harlem Council for Community Improvement
- Former president of the Ericsson Street Block Association and of the Executive Board of the East Elmhurst-Corona Civic Association
- Has served on the boards of Community Board 3Q and the La Guardia Kiwanis Club; former vice president of the Frederick Douglas Democratic Association
- Former PTA president at Veritas High School and PS 127Q; has served as deputy director of the Flushing Meadows Soap Box Derby and as a Girl Scouts troop leader
- Mother of five and a grandmother
Support
New York Working Families Party
Also on your ballot on the Working Families Party line
Money
$41K
raised
Top donors: Michael Sullivan, Scott Rechler, 1199 SEIU New York State Political Actio