Virginia Maloney, daughter of former East Side Congress Member Carolyn Maloney, announced Monday that she wants to continue her mother’s legacy with her own bid for elected office.
The younger Maloney revealed on Nov. 18 that she is joining next year’s increasingly crowded Democratic primary to replace term-limited City Council Member Keith Powers in the city’s legislature. Powers’ 4th District seat covers large swaths of Manhattan’s East Side, including Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village, Midtown East, and part of the Upper East Side.
Powers has held the seat since 2017 and is running for Manhattan borough president next year.
Virginia Maloney, who is running for the same City Council seat her mother held between 1982 and 1993, said she wants to address the city’s ongoing “affordability crisis” and act as a bulwark against Republican President-elect Donald Trump.
“As your City Councilmember, I will be committed to finding common-sense solutions to the major issues facing our city,” Virginia Maloney said in a statement. “From expanding and protecting affordable housing, keeping our community safe and livable, protecting and uplifting seniors, and defending our values from Washington’s extremism, I’m ready to do the hard work and deliver.”
The candidate also pointed to her family’s “deep legacy of public service” and its role in teaching her to work on behalf of her community.
“I’ve put that approach to work in fighting for women’s rights, promoting economic mobility, and making technology more accessible for everyone,” she said. “I am a proven problem solver with experience in federal and local government, as well as the private sector.
The elder Maloney has been out of office since she lost her seat to US Rep. Jerry Nadler in 2022, when the two chose to run for the same seat spanning both their East and West Side strongholds following that year’s redistricting.
Virginia Maloney is currently a project manager at the tech giant Meta — the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Whats App. She previously worked for the quasi-governmental city’s Economic Development Corporation, also as a project manager.
Growing up in a family immersed in politics, Maloney has worked on Democratic campaigns for much of her life and is part of the executive committee for the Lexington Democratic Club.
Maloney’s early backers include former Council Speaker Gifford Miller, who once represented the same district.
“As a former NYC Council Speaker, I can tell you that she’s exactly the kind of person we need in the Council right now. She is extremely hardworking, talented, and dedicated to good governance and transparency,” Miller said in a statement.
She is entering an already packed field that includes Fifth Avenue Synagogue COO Rachel Storch, Lexington Democratic Club President Vanessa Aronson, state housing department policy specialist Ben Wetzler, Marine Corps veteran Luke Florczak, and attorney Faith Bondy.
Big money is already being raised in the race, City & State reported, with Storch bringing in so much over the past filing period that she has decided to opt-out of the city’s generous matching funds program.
