State Assembly Member - District 73
Vanessa Aronson
Democratic and Working Families nominee for the open 73rd Assembly District seat.
Issues Vanessa is raising
Affordable housing
Wants the state to protect existing affordable housing while increasing supply, including investments to stabilize rent-stabilized and affordable buildings that are at risk. Supports expanding mixed-income housing development and setting affordability standards that reflect real local income levels.
Public schools
Supports fully funding public schools, protecting critical education resources and ensuring every student has access to a high-quality education starting in early childhood. Cites her experience as a former public school teacher and a public school parent.
Health care and care for seniors
Wants to expand access to affordable, high-quality health care across the state, reduce out-of-pocket costs and close coverage gaps. Supports expanding access to affordable home care and strengthening services that let seniors age in place.
Public safety and street safety
Supports evidence-based strategies to reduce crime, combat antisemitism and other forms of hate, and build trust between communities and public safety personnel. Wants stronger rules and enforcement for mopeds and e-bikes, holding large delivery platforms accountable for unsafe practices that endanger workers and pedestrians, and street investments for seniors, people with disabilities and families with strollers.
Government ethics and transparency
Supports strengthening ethics laws, increasing government transparency, and stronger oversight and enforcement.
Background
Based in Upper East Side
She spent a decade as a U.S. Foreign Service officer, taught in New York City public schools and served as senior director of strategy at the ASPCA. A former president of the Lexington Democratic Club, she finished second in the 2025 Democratic primary for City Council District 4.
- U.S. Foreign Service officer for a decade, including as a vice consul at the U.S. Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City and as a food security officer in the State Department's Bureau of International Organization Affairs
- Taught math and science in New York City public schools; a former member of the UFT and AFSA unions
- Served as senior director of strategy at the ASPCA
- Former adviser to the president of Hunter College
- Co-founded Aronson Concierge Vacations
- Former president of the Lexington Democratic Club
- New York County Judicial Delegate and member of the County Democratic Committee, where she serves on its Ethics Committee
- Former member of Community Board 8, where she sat on the Land Use and Zoning Committees
- Former co-chair of the Tikkun Olam Committee at Park Avenue Synagogue
- Member of the Murray Hill Neighborhood Association
- Bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Chicago, master's in teaching from the Relay Graduate School of Education and master's in public policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government
- Finished second behind Virginia Maloney in the June 2025 Democratic primary for City Council District 4, with 46.9% after five rounds of ranked-choice voting
- Also ran in the 2017 Democratic primary for City Council District 4, winning 6.84% of the vote in a race in which nine candidates made the ballot
- Filed to run for Assembly District 73 on Sept. 30, 2025
- Advanced to the general election on the Democratic and Working Families lines after both parties' June 23, 2026 primaries for the seat were canceled
- A public school parent; lives on the Upper East Side with her husband, Reid, and their two children
Support
Jerrold Nadler
U.S. Representative for New York's 12th Congressional District
Carolyn Maloney
Former U.S. Representative
Julie Menin
Speaker of the New York City Council
Mark Levine
New York City Comptroller
Brad Hoylman-Sigal
Manhattan Borough President
Money
$137K
raised
Top donors: LEE New York PAC, Helaine Lerner, Sandra Tantillo