Announcement

This is a momentous election

For the first time in 35 years, Assembly District 66 will have an open seat. It’s an opportunity not just to elect a new generation of leadership, but to decide how we want to shape our politics, our government, and our democracy with this seat.

Some might say that this is a safe blue seat in Lower Manhattan. Or that a local assembly race can’t really impact the big picture. I think that is a dangerous perspective. Every single elected official is critical, especially now. Trump and the MAGA Republicans are a symptom of a deeper problem, the loss of faith in our democratic system and its ability to deliver for regular people. We are beset by an affordability crisis, mega-corporations trying to squeeze every penny from working people, and tech giants using our personal data against us.

Our best leaders — people like Barack Obama, AOC, Zohran Mamdani — are those who have big ideas, big policies, on how to change things for the better. And, focus equally on engaging and empowering people, inspiring hope through the promise of participation.

This requires someone who’s lived that philosophy

I got my start on the Obama campaign in 2008, as Digital Director for New York State, doing grassroots organizing online. From there, I went to State government, using tech to improve the transparency and accessibility of the NY State Senate — turning what was ranked the single most corrupt legislative body in the country into one that was winning awards for transparency and openness.

When Donald Trump was elected in 2016, I started a nonprofit to demystify politics and government, giving people the tools they needed to become leaders in their own community. I spoke to over 8,000 people personally, and my proudest accomplishment is helping hundreds of them to become activists, start political groups, and run for office. People you may not know, but have made a huge difference — District Leaders, County Committee Members, and Presidents of local Democratic Clubs, including three in my local Assembly District — and folks you might have heard of, like Luba Gretchen Shirley, who ran for Congress in Long Island and founded Vote Mama. Even AOC joined a workshop.

For the last 5 years, I’ve been in education technology, criss-crossing the world, helping to define how remote classes and AI are reshaping how we teach, learn, and work; and how governments are responding. And I’ve had a front-row seat to the culture that people like Peter Thiel and Elon Musk are building in Silicon Valley.

And, for the last eight years, I’ve been representing our community in Albany to Democratic Party leadership, passing more reforms than any other State Committee Member in the last decade, consistently winning against a leadership hostile to change by building coalitions that span every part of NY State.

These are the skills, abilities, and knowledge I hope to bring to the assembly seat.

I still believe in the “Hope and Change” that got me involved, because that’s the story of my family

My father‘s parents came here from China at a time when the Chinese Exclusion Act barred them from becoming citizens. My mother‘s parents were Jews who survived the holocaust; she was born a refugee in Poland. Both of these families came here looking for a better life, and they found it.

My father became a civil engineer who worked for the MTA and the Port Authority for his whole life. My mother became a lawyer in a male-dominated field, and when one of America’s largest law firms made it clear that they were not promoting women to partner, she quit and took two of their top women attorneys to start what is possibly the first women-founded, owned, and run trademark law firm in the country.

My parents had amazing opportunities, but they faced many challenges. An interracial couple, they got married just 10 years after the Supreme Court affirmed that interracial marriage is a civil right. They fought for those civil rights, and the civil rights of others, and they taught me that everybody has a place in this country and this democracy — but we still have to fight for that fundamental truth.

That’s why I’m running

Today, the dark threads of our history — racism, sexism, bigotry, predation, and corruption — are at the center of our politics and government. And we have to fight that with everything that we have.

I’m running to bring all of my knowledge, my skills, my abilities — all of who I am — to fight to make New York a sanctuary for our values, our people, and our democracy.

And that’s the problem today, the dark threads of our history — racism, sexism, bigotry, predation, corruption — are at the center of our politics and government. And must fight that with everything that we have. That’s why I’m running for the seat, to bring all of my knowledge, my skills, my abilities — all of who I am — to fight to make this district, this city, this state a sanctuary for our values, our people, and our democracy.

My campaign is built on three pillars to do just that by making government:

One, more Empowering — doing exactly what I’ve been doing for 20 years and turning this seat into a hub for civic engagement, reaching out beyond the self-selecting club members and community boards to engage people who think government is intimidating or politics is not for them. And by fighting for reforms that give power to voters, like statewide ranked-choice voting and a stronger matching funds program.

Two, more Effective — truly addressing our problems by rewriting the rules of the housing market for affordability, providing healthcare to New Yorkers, improving our quality of life in the only way the works, with humanity, by housing the unhoused, providing mental health and addiction services and investing in proven urban design and educational programs that stop violent crime before it starts, and addressing wealth inequality by finally making the most fortunate pay their fair share.

Three, more Visionary — by looking to the future and the society we want to build. By making civics education mandatory; by passing consent education to combat sexual violence; by teaching media and financial literacy; by being proactive in regulating AI and ensuring humans, not algorithms, are in charge of our lives; and by using state power to safeguard our elections and our democracy from those who are trying to tear them down.

I am so grateful for your support over the years

Thank you all again for your support, your involvement and your activism. Our task in this moment of history is daunting, but together we can give Albany an upgrade to what it must become.

-Ben Yee
Candidate for NY Assembly, District 66