Melquiades Gagarin

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Melquiades Gagarin

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

June 23, 2020

Education

Bachelor's

American University, 2004

Graduate

American University, 2019

Personal

Profession

Community Advocate

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

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Campaign YouTube

Melquiades Gagarin (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent New York's 6th Congressional District. He lost in the Democratic primary on June 23, 2020.

Gagarin completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Melquiades Gagarin was born in Elmhurst, Queens, New York, and lives in Kew Gardens, Queens, New York. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from American University, in 2004 and 2019 respectively. Gagarin’s career experience includes working as a community advocate, congressional aide, and campaign field lead.

Elections

2020

See also: New York's 6th Congressional District election, 2020

New York's 6th Congressional District election, 2020 (June 23 Democratic primary)

New York's 6th Congressional District election, 2020 (June 23 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House New York District 6

Incumbent Grace Meng defeated Thomas Zmich in the general election for U.S. House New York District 6 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Grace Meng (D / Working Families Party)	67.9	158,862
		Thomas Zmich (R / L / Conservative Party / Save Our City Party)	32.0	74,829
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	223

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 233,914
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House New York District 6

Incumbent Grace Meng defeated Melquiades Gagarin and Sandra Choi in the Democratic primary for U.S. House New York District 6 on June 23, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Grace Meng	65.3	30,759
		Melquiades Gagarin	20.0	9,447
	Submit photo	Sandra Choi	14.3	6,757
		Other/Write-in votes	0.4	170

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 47,133
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Matthew DiBono (D)

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Thomas Zmich advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House New York District 6.

Conservative Party primary election

The Conservative Party primary election was canceled. Thomas Zmich advanced from the Conservative Party primary for U.S. House New York District 6.

Libertarian primary election

The Libertarian primary election was canceled. Thomas Zmich advanced from the Libertarian primary for U.S. House New York District 6.

Working Families Party primary election

The Working Families Party primary election was canceled. Incumbent Grace Meng advanced from the Working Families Party primary for U.S. House New York District 6.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Melquiades Gagarin completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Gagarin's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

My name is Melquiades Gagarin. I'm a stay-at-home dad, a community advocate, and a progressive candidate for New York's Sixth Congressional District. I was born in Elmhurst to a Puerto-Rican mother and a Filipino immigrant father. I was raised by my mom, a single parent and 1199SEIU nurse, and my abuela. As a Congressional Aide, I worked across all levels of government to help solve problems for people in the community. I have worked towards advancing gender, racial, and economic justice at organizations such as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Planned Parenthood of New York City, and the College and Community Fellowship, as well as at the intersection of all three when working for access to higher education for justice-impacted folks. Recently, I was a field lead for Tiffany Cabán's District Attorney race in Queens.

I'm running to fight for a just future for all people, including those who have been marginalized: the working class, people of color, immigrants, our elders, and our LGBTQIA+ neighbors. I am refusing contributions from corporate PACs, big real estate, fossil fuel, and weapon manufacturers. I live in Kew Gardens with my wife Aleda, our three beautiful children, and our dachshund, Chewbacca.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• We need a Congress that will represent and work for all people, champion economic and social justice, take bold action on our climate crisis, prioritize healthcare and housing as fundamental human rights, and work in coalition with those closest to problems when designing policy solutions.
• For many Americans, the ability to enjoy retirement free of economic insecurity has become increasingly difficult with rising costs of housing and healthcare. We need to expand the social safety net to fill in the current gaps between Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. As states face a looming pension crisis, more and more families are caught between caring for their elders and providing for the children's futures, while threatening their own retirement plans. A Golden Years Security Act is necessary to care for our elders and to assist families manage long term care costs.
• We are facing a global climate crisis that will require true mass mobilization to effect a Green New Deal. Only bold leadership that is ready to put aside corporate interests and put forth legislation that implements Green New Deal solutions can truly transform our economy and meet the challenges we face. A bold and holistic Green New Deal must work towards intergenerational equity by bolstering labor and providing union jobs and protections, as well as a homes guarantee.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Our criminal justice system disproportionately punishes and harms black and brown folks, as it, unfortunately, was designed to do. I will fight to end our nation's mass incarceration crisis as well as propose and champion legislation to address the root causes that fuel our system, including ending private prison contracts, passing the REAL Act, and ending the war on drugs.

I worked alongside justice-impacted individuals to eliminate barriers to higher education for currently and formerly incarcerated people. The coalition that I worked with succeeded in introducing the REAL Act in Congress, which would restore Pell Grant access to incarcerated students, and subsequently partnered with the Obama DOE to launch the Pell Pilot Program. That bill is still sitting in Congress, despite studies that show access to higher education while incarcerated leads to lower recidivism rates and improved outcomes for impacted individuals and their families. I will fight for its passage to restore the harm done by the 1994 Crime Bill.

I also fully support legalizing marijuana as well as vacating and expunging all past marijuana-related convictions. Legalized marijuana revenue should be reinvested in the communities that have been most adversely impacted by the War on Drugs and racist "broken windows" policing. Black Americans are four times as likely to get arrested for marijuana as white Americans, despite both populations having similar rates of marijuana use.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

As people, our liberation is bound to one another. When injustice exists, elected officials must have the courage to persevere until all can claim justice. I am running for Congress because too often, thoughts and prayers are given in lieu of leadership. Courage to persevere means taking bold actions, such as legislative protections for the immigrant families being separated at the border. Courage to persevere means doing the diligent and gritty work of leading, even when it's difficult. Ultimately, this means acknowledging that the full potential of any elected office can only be achieved when there are concrete policy solutions to the current economic and racial injustices that exist. Those that want to keep their jobs hide behind platitudes and co-sponsorships; those that uphold their duty present bold ideas and champion them.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

The first historical event that happened in my lifetime was the Challenger explosion. However, the most significant was September 11th. The grief I felt for my city was immeasurable. That moment changed me, it changed our country, and it changed the world. I was a 19 year old kid when the war in Afghanistan began. Now I'm 37 years old with three kids of my own, and we have been at war their entire lives. We need to end the forever wars. As a Congressional aide, I worked closely with service members as a liaison to the Department of Veteran's Affairs. As a member of Congress, I will fight for those who have and continue to serve in wars, to ensure the VA is properly funded, and to strengthen mental health programming outreach to servicemembers.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Luke Skywalker

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

I have been very open about struggling with depression and anxiety. We face a mental health crisis, and the lack of public discourse as well as associated stigma leaves many living in the shadows struggling in silence. I have learned to manage my mental health issues and want to use this lived experience to help address the crisis that so many in my generation are faced with. This is part of the reason I will champion true, single-payer Medicare for All that includes access to mental health services, and why unlike my opponent, I won't take money from health giant PACs.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics?

I believe it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience to the extent that they understand the political and legislative process, but lived experiences shape how people view problems and solutions. I do have professional experience as a former congressional aide, having represented large parts of the 6th Congressional District. I advocated on the Hill alongside criminal justice reformers and I organized across Queens as part of a movement to build a more just future for the nation's most diverse county. My lived experience as a person of color growing up in a working-class, immigrant family best equips me to understand the struggles Americans are facing today, as well as the policy solutions needed to remedy them.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

One of the United States' greatest challenges as a nation is housing. While an improving economy has benefited real estate and land development corporations, wages are not keeping up with rising housing prices and rent. In Queens alone, countless working families are being priced out of their neighborhoods, and the number of people experiencing homelessness is increasing.

Housing is a human right. I will fight for guaranteed affordable housing for all and introduce legislation to create millions of new social housing units by 2050 - building upon recommendations by the People's Policy Project and The People's Action Homes Guarantee.

Is there a particular representative, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

I'm inspired by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for being a bold leader since her first day in office. Her electoral victory, and her policies, embody what a working-class powered movement looks like. The future of Queens, and of our nation, relies on growing that movement, standing up for progressive values, and leading on policies that will bring justice to our communities. I am the only true progressive candidate in New York's Sixth District, prioritizing issues including Affordable Housing for All, true single-payer Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, abolishing ICE, and public banking. I am the only candidate that has signed the Sunrise Movement's No Fossil Fuel Pledge and CODEPINK's pledge to refuse money from weapon manufacturers as well as to divest from war.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2020 Elections

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Footnotes

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New York's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Kirsten Gillibrand (D)

Chuck Schumer (D)

Representatives

District 1

Nicholas LaLota (R)

District 2

Andrew Garbarino (R)

District 3

Tom Suozzi (D)

District 4

Laura Gillen (D)

District 5

Gregory Meeks (D)

District 6

Grace Meng (D)

District 7

Nydia Velazquez (D)

District 8

Hakeem Jeffries (D)

District 9

Yvette Clarke (D)

District 10

Daniel Goldman (D)

District 11

Nicole Malliotakis (R)

District 12

Jerrold Nadler (D)

District 13

Adriano Espaillat (D)

District 14

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D)

District 15

Ritchie Torres (D)

District 16

George Latimer (D)

District 17

Michael Lawler (R)

District 18

Pat Ryan (D)

District 19

Josh Riley (D)

District 20

Paul Tonko (D)

District 21

Elise Stefanik (R)

District 22

John Mannion (D)

District 23

Nick Langworthy (R)

District 24

Claudia Tenney (R)

District 25

Joseph Morelle (D)

District 26

Tim Kennedy (D)

Democratic Party (21)

Republican Party (7)