State Assembly Member - District 47
William Colton
Has represented District 47 in the Assembly since 1997 and serves as the Assembly's Majority Whip.
Where they stand
Schools, gifted programs and school safety
Wants to expand gifted classes admitted by merit and to keep the specialized high schools and their admissions test, the SHSAT. Sponsors a bill requiring New York City's Education Department to create more gifted and talented programs, and sponsored the 2023 law making Asian Lunar New Year a school holiday.
Public safety and criminal justice
Sponsored a bill letting judges set bail or order jail before trial for people charged with hate crimes. Voted against the Keep Police Radio Public Act in 2025, which the governor vetoed, and against a 2024 bill, which became law, on certificates of relief from disabilities (which lift some legal barriers for people with criminal convictions).
Voting access and redistricting
Supports expanding early voting sites and hours in New York. Voted against a 2025 bill on how city charter revision proposals go to voters, which the governor vetoed.
Issues William is raising
Rent rules and homeless shelters
Supports stronger rent regulations and better Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption benefits to keep older and working-class tenants in their homes. Opposes a proposed homeless shelter on 86th Street, and sponsors a bill barring homeless shelters within 500 feet of a school, place of worship or transit facility, except a shelter or food program run by a place of worship.
Medical aid in dying and hospital care rules
Voted in April 2025 against the Medical Aid in Dying Act, and in February 2026 against a bill setting medication requirements for medical aid in dying, which became law. Also voted against a 2025 bill requiring hospitals to report their rule-based care exclusions (care a hospital does not provide under its own rules) for the state to publish; the governor vetoed it.
Subways, buses and driving
Sponsors bills, both passed by the Assembly in 2026, requiring the MTA to tell riders about bedbug infestations within 24 hours and giving community boards notice of subway and bus service changes. Also sponsors bills for free bus fares for students and for seniors, and one on defenses to parking tickets.
Climate, recycling and waste
Voted for the 2024 law creating a climate change adaptation cost recovery program and fund, and sponsored a bill requiring New York City to collect recyclables in parks and playgrounds, which the governor vetoed. Served as the attorney in the lawsuit that stopped the Southwest Brooklyn Incinerator from reopening.
Background
A New York City public school teacher for 11 years, six of them as a United Federation of Teachers chapter chairperson, he was admitted as a lawyer in 1979 and co-founded the Bensonhurst Tenants Council.
- Assembly Member for District 47 since 1997; first elected in November 1996
- Majority Whip of the New York State Assembly
- Appointed chair of the Legislative Commission on Solid Waste Management
- Member of the Assembly committees on Correction, Environmental Conservation, Governmental Employees, and Ways and Means, and of the Asian Pacific American and Puerto Rican/Hispanic task forces
- New York City public school teacher for 11 years, including six as a United Federation of Teachers chapter chairperson
- Admitted as a lawyer in New York State in 1979; served as the attorney in the lawsuit that stopped the reopening of the Southwest Brooklyn Incinerator
- Co-founder and organizer of the Bensonhurst Tenants Council; founder of the Bensonhurst Straphangers Committee
- B.A. in Urban Education, St. John's University (1968); M.S. in Urban Education, Brooklyn College; J.D., St. John's School of Law (1978); graduate of Cathedral Prep
- Re-elected in 2024 with 60.5% of the vote over David Sepiashvili, in 2022 with 54.7% over Dmitriy Kugel, and in 2020 with 61.8% over Barbara Marino
- Became the Democratic nominee after the June 23, 2026 Democratic primary was canceled
Support
Susan Zhuang
New York City Council Member
Civil Service Employees Association
Union
NYC District Council of Carpenters
Union
New York League of Conservation Voters
Organization
Money
$17K
raised
Top donors: 1199 SEIU--NYS Political Action Fund, Paul Lipton, David Yeung
Others running for State Assembly Member - District 47