State Assembly Member - District 86
Yudelka Tapia
Has represented the district in the Assembly since November 2021, when she won a special election to succeed Victor Pichardo, and won re-election in 2024 with 74.4% of the vote.
Where they stand
Public safety
Has sponsored bills to bar the knowing sale of xylazine to people under 21 and without proof of intended institutional, veterinary or scientific use, to ban drones over school grounds and critical infrastructure, to create a lithium-ion battery safety program for powered mobility devices, and to require sexual and domestic violence awareness posters in cosmetology businesses.
Affordable housing and tenant protections
Backed the 2022 law raising the State of New York Mortgage Agency's bond and note limit from $1 billion to $1.5 billion, saying it would help many more low- and moderate-income families buy homes. Her sponsored bills also include letting tenants sue over unmaintained self-closing doors, an extreme weather tenant protection act and a fair share for homeless shelters act.
Cost of living
Sponsors a bill barring fees or surcharges for bank services tied to using state-issued electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards, which passed both houses in 2026, and a bill providing a host community benefit for customers in communities where data centers are built or expanded, which passed the Assembly in May 2026.
Issues Yudelka is raising
Health care and mental health
Proposed $15 million in 2025 for mental health clubhouses, calling them "a lifeline" for people with serious mental illness, and sponsors a bill for a statewide mental health program. Co-sponsored and voted for the medical aid in dying act, now law, and sponsored a vetoed bill adding organ donor sign-up to electronic income tax filing.
Climate and energy
Has voted for laws creating a climate change adaptation cost recovery program and fund and requiring electric vehicle charging stations and EV-ready parking in certain new construction, and for a 2026 law on provisions for gas service to new customers. Also sponsors a bill requiring at least one fast-charging station for every 5,000 New York residents.
Background
Based in West Bronx
Before that she worked 23 years as a senior auditor in the New York City Comptroller's Office and was a Democratic district leader. Born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, she moved to the West Bronx at 19.
- Member of the New York State Assembly for District 86 since Nov. 3, 2021
- Won re-election on Nov. 5, 2024 with 74.4% of the vote
- Assembly committees: Banks; Corporations, Authorities and Commissions; Economic Development, Job Creation, Commerce and Industry; Mental Health
- Member of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Legislative Caucus, the Legislative Women's Caucus and the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force
- Senior auditor with the New York City Comptroller's Office for 23 years
- Former Democratic district leader
- Former PTA president at Theodore Roosevelt High School
- Former Executive Committee member of DC 37 Local 1407
- Founder and former president of the Unión Democrática de Mujeres; attended O&M University in Santo Domingo
- Attended Bronx Community College in the early 1990s; Master of Science in Urban Policy and Leadership from Hunter College
- Ran for the 14th City Council District seat in 2009 and 2021 and for this Assembly seat in 2013
- Fined $47,774 and ordered to repay $59,931 in public matching funds by the New York City Campaign Finance Board over her 2009 City Council campaign
- Mother of four
Support
New York State AFL-CIO
Union
Communications Workers of America District 1 (CWA District 1)
Union
Money
$63K
raised
Top donors: Andrew Cuomo for NY, Ramon Tallaj, Steven Rivera
Others running for State Assembly Member - District 86
