General Election
NY Assembly · Assembly District 68
Diana I. Ayala is the only candidate on the ballot for this seat. You can also write in a candidate whose name isn't printed on the ballot.
Diana Ayala runs unopposed after defeating Assembly Member Eddie Gibbs in June
Former City Council Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala defeated Assembly Member Eddie Gibbs in the June 23, 2026 Democratic primary with about 52 percent of the vote. She is the only candidate on the Nov. 3 ballot, on the Democratic and Working Families lines.
Issues
7 issues · 1 candidate · every claim sourced
Affordable housing and public housing
Central to the raceAt issue is how the state pays for new housing that stays affordable over the long term, and how much it puts into repairing New York City public housing.
Diana I. Ayala
Supports a modernized, statewide Mitchell-Lama 2.0 program that would use updated financing tools, the state's bonding authority, and partnerships with nonprofit and public developers to guarantee long-term housing affordability.
Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club — Diana Ayala's candidate questionnaire answers (March 22, 2026) ↗Homelessness, shelters and rental vouchers
Central to the raceHow families qualify for rental vouchers that can keep them out of shelters, and how the shelter intake process works.
Diana I. Ayala
In coverageSays she wrote the City Council bill that ended the requirement to enter a shelter before qualifying for a rental assistance voucher, and sponsored a 2019 bill requiring the city to inform voucher applicants of their rights and of protections against source-of-income discrimination.
✓ Track record — what they've actually done
On the City Council, was prime sponsor of Local Law 100, one of the CityFHEPS housing-voucher expansion laws passed over the mayor's veto in July 2023, and led the Council in passing a resolution allowing the speaker to take legal action against Mayor Eric Adams over what the Council called his failure to combat the homelessness crisis. Sponsored Int. 0123-2024, introduced Feb. 28, 2024, to bar the Department of Homeless Services from requiring a child to be present in person at an intake facility when a family applies for shelter; it was enacted as Local Law 2024/086 on Sept. 14, 2024.
City Council member: prime sponsor of Local Law 100; sponsor of Int. 0123-2024; led Council passage of the resolution on legal action · July 2023 (Local Law 100); Feb. 28, 2024 to Sept. 14, 2024 (Int. 0123-2024) · Local Law 100 became law over the mayor's veto in July 2023; Int. 0123-2024 was enacted as Local Law 2024/086 on Sept. 14, 2024
State and local cooperation with immigration enforcement
Central to the raceAt issue is whether state law bars state and local agencies from asking about or sharing people's immigration status and from helping federal deportation efforts, and whether the state guarantees a lawyer to immigrants facing deportation proceedings.
Diana I. Ayala
Supports the New York for All Act, which would bar state and local agencies from questioning or disclosing people's immigration status or cooperating with federal deportation efforts; the Access to Representation Act, for a right to a lawyer in deportation proceedings; and the BUILD Act's grants for groups providing that representation.
Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club — Diana Ayala's candidate questionnaire answers (March 22, 2026) ↗Schools, child care and public colleges
Central to the raceAt issue is how much state money goes to public schools, smaller classes and child care, and how much financial aid the state offers CUNY and SUNY students.
Diana I. Ayala
Wants the state to fully fund public schools and reduce class sizes, expand universal child care with more funding, and strengthen CUNY and SUNY while expanding financial aid.
Diana Ayala for Assembly campaign site — issues ↗Wages and union rights
Also in playThe state's prevailing wage rules and protections for workers and for the right to organize.
Diana I. Ayala
Wants to defend prevailing wage laws, strengthen worker protections and protect the right to organize.
Diana Ayala for Assembly campaign site — issues ↗Sentencing, parole and prisons
Also in playHow the state sets prison sentences and parole, and how it runs its prisons.
Diana I. Ayala
Supports letting judges review and reconsider excessive sentences (Second Look Act), expanding prison good-time and merit-time programs (Earned Time Act), ending mandatory minimum sentences (Marvin Mayfield Act) and parole board hearings for incarcerated people over 55 who have served 15 years (Elder Parole); opposes the death penalty and supports outlawing solitary confinement.
Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club — Diana Ayala's candidate questionnaire answers (March 22, 2026) ↗Abortion and reproductive health care
Also in playHow New York protects access to abortion and reproductive health care.
Diana I. Ayala
Wants to strengthen New York's protections for abortion access and reproductive health care.
Diana Ayala for Assembly campaign site — issues ↗