Lester Chang is an American politician who is the member of the

New York's 49th State Assembly district New York's 49th State Assembly district is one of the 150 districts in the New York State Assembly. It has been represented by Lester Chang since 2023. Geography District 49 is in Brooklyn. It contains portions of Dyker Heights, Sunset Park, ...

; he defeated longtime Democratic incumbent Peter J. Abbate Jr. in the

2022 New York State Assembly election The 2022 New York State Assembly election was held on November 8, 2022. Elections were held to elect representatives from all 150 districts across the State of New York. This election coincided with New York elections for the governorship, U.S. S ...

Political career

Chang first ran in the 2016 special election in the 65th Assembly district to succeed

Sheldon Silver Sheldon Silver (February 13, 1944 – January 24, 2022) was an American Democratic Party politician, attorney, and convicted felon from New York City who served as speaker of the New York State Assembly from 1994 to 2015. A native of Manhattan' ...

following his resignation due to a corruption scandal. He placed third to

Yuh-Line Niou Yuh-Line Niou ( , born July 15, 1983) is a Taiwanese-American politician who served as a member of the New York State Assembly for the 65th district. The Lower Manhattan district, which is heavily Democratic and over 40% Asian American, includes ...

and

Alice Cancel Alice Cancel is the former Assembly member for the 65th District of the New York State Assembly. She is a Democratic Party (United States), Democrat. The district included the neighborhoods of the Lower East Side, Manhattan, Lower East Side, East ...

. He then ran in 2020 in the 26th State Senate district. He placed second to the incumbent Brian Kavanagh. Following his election to the New York State Assembly, the

Brooklyn Democratic Party The Brooklyn Democratic Party, officially the Kings County Democratic County Committee, is the county committee of the Democratic Party in the New York City borough of Brooklyn (Kings County). It is the most local level of party governance in New ...

attempted to block Chang from sitting in Albany, demanding an investigation into if he met the residency requirements to even run for the district. The Brooklyn Democratic Party claimed that Chang had been secretly living in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and was ineligible to have been elected. The investigation organized by Speaker

Carl Heastie Carl Edward Heastie (; born September 25, 1967) is an American politician from New York (state), New York. Heastie has served in the New York State Assembly since January 2001, and was elected Speaker of the New York State Assembly on February 3 ...

concluded that Chang did own an apartment in Manhattan, but he fulfilled residency requirements to run in his district.

References

Living people 21st-century American politicians New York (state) Republicans Year of birth missing (living people) Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly Candidates in the 2016 United States elections Candidates in the 2020 United States elections People from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn Politicians from Brooklyn {{NewYork-politician-stub