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Steven Basileo
From Ballotpedia
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Steven Basileo (Democratic Party, Working Families Party) ran for election to the New York State Assembly to represent District 8. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Basileo completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Steven Basileo's career experience includes working as a policy analyst. Basileo earned an associate degree from Suffolk County Community College in 2020, a bachelor's degree from Stony Brook University in 2022, and a graduate degree from Stony Brook University in 2023.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: New York State Assembly elections, 2024
General election
General election for New York State Assembly District 8
Incumbent Michael Fitzpatrick defeated Steven Basileo in the general election for New York State Assembly District 8 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Michael Fitzpatrick (R / Conservative Party) | 66.0 | 50,568 |
 | Steven Basileo (D / Working Families Party)  | 34.0 | 26,016 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 28 | ||
| Total votes: 76,612 | |||
| = 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
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Steven Basileo advanced from the Democratic primary for New York State Assembly District 8.
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Michael Fitzpatrick advanced from the Republican primary for New York State Assembly District 8.
Conservative Party primary election
The Conservative Party primary election was canceled. Incumbent Michael Fitzpatrick advanced from the Conservative Party primary for New York State Assembly District 8.
Working Families Party primary election
The Working Families Party primary election was canceled. Steven Basileo advanced from the Working Families Party primary for New York State Assembly District 8.
Campaign finance
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Basileo in this election.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Steven Basileo completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Basileo's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I'm a proud lifelong Long Islander with a passion for improving my community. I graduated with a Master's Degree in Public Policy from Stony Brook University, and my studies primarily focused on housing and healthcare affordability. I also previously worked as a labor organizer responsible for encouraging public school staff to get involved in their unions in a joint venture between the SEIU Communications Center and the National Education Association.
I was diagnosed with autism when I was 3 years old. With hard work and support from both family and state-funded services, I was able to develop the skills needed to grow into the person I am today. It's a huge part of my motivation to give back to my community, and to emphasize lending a hand to our most vulnerable. All people deserve the opportunity to contribute to our community regardless of the hand they were dealt at birth.
- I believe that an effective state legislator does two critical things: They offer stable & effective constituent services, and they focus intently on local issues. If elected, I will make these things a priority in order to best serve our local community.
- Long Island depends on groundwater supplies for potable drinking water, and beaches for tourism/recreation. This makes environmental protection extremely important for our way of life to continue uninterrupted. We need to continue our development of wind energy so that we can both reduce dependence on pollutant fossil fuels and create well-paying jobs for those of us who build and maintain that infrastructure.
- Access to healthcare is vital to the livelihoods of our community. We have to protect ourselves from the possibility of federal law adversely affecting our insurance coverage. That's why I support codifying the key parts of the Affordable Care Act into state law so that our local residents are insulated from the dangers of losing pre-existing condition and under-26 child coverage.
Healthcare, housing, labor, education, and environmental policy are all things I feel are deeply important for a sustainable future.
There are many things that make a person a good public servant, but there are three essential qualities which any aspiring elected official should have: integrity, work ethic, and a strong moral compass.
State legislators should provide three basic things above all else: robust constituent services, a strong focus on issues that impact district residents, and a receptive forum for locals to voice their concerns.
I want to create and uphold institutions that help people in need.
I remember watching Barack Obama's inauguration in my 3rd grade classroom. I was 8 years old. The teachers in the room were very clearly ecstatic and prideful by the end of his speech. I was far too young at the time to understand the gravity of that moment, but I am now able to recognize that it was and still is an enduring symbol of opportunity for all Americans.
I worked at a local Wendy's for well over a year as my first job. I was 16 when I started. Tons of people believe that working in a fast food restaurant is something that's just for teenagers to get work experience, but I worked alongside many people who were trying to provide for their families there. Also, while the work is conceptually simple, a lot of hard work goes into preparing dozens of meals every few minutes for several hours straight, and working in that environment helps reveal a lot of misconceptions about so-called "low skill workers".
The legislative and executive branches of government are supposed to be co-equal both federally and within states. In New York, the governor wields excessive power thanks to the state constitution's verbiage on budgets (Article VII, Sections 4, 5, and 6). This prohibition on amending much of the governor's budget proposal allows the governor to insert policy desires at their whims, and forces the legislature to either accept those provisions without the opportunity to negotiate or vote down the entire budget (which would cause state services to lose access to funds).
If elected, I plan to cosponsor A7185, which would give voters the opportunity to amend the state constitution and fix this imbalance.
If elected, I plan to cosponsor A7185, which would give voters the opportunity to amend the state constitution and fix this imbalance.
We have a lot to work on, but New York's biggest hurdle is finding a way to stem the massive out-migration of locals for other states. The high cost of living (largely driven by skyrocketing housing costs in the broader downstate area) is driving thousands of young people out to more affordable states. This severely weakens our economy, degrades community institutions, and drains our available resources to invest in a rebound plan as the issue progresses. It also means those young people are receiving top-tier educations here while taking the skills gained from that elsewhere, meaning we're investing in talent which goes on to reward other communities instead of our own.
It can help, but it isn't a silver bullet. Having experience only helps if you're willing to use the knowledge gained from it to advance important causes. Far too many people who seek election simply name the positions they've held and then fail to use their expertise for the greater good when they take office.
It is a fundamental component of the position. No legislator can accomplish any policy changes without garnering support for their proposals among the majority of both chambers of the legislature. Doing so requires building connections with colleagues, and convincing members not only to vote in support of it, but also to bring it to the chamber floor for deliberation in the first place (a staggering number of proposals made by legislators never receive a vote at all).
I would be eager to serve on any of the following committees (listed in no particular order): Education, Environmental Conservation, Higher Education, Labor, Housing, Health, Mental Health, Governmental Operations, Governmental Employees, Social Services, Transportation, Consumer Affairs & Protection, Election Law, Energy, and People with Disabilities.
All public programs should be periodically audited to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being spent prudently. These audits should be designed in a way which prioritizes being minimally disruptive to the programs or agencies being audited while ensuring no impropriety is taking place. These audits should be more frequent for programs being funded with public money but which are administered by a private entity.
People in positions of public trust who abuse their authority in any way should face penalties for their activity which are above and beyond what would be meted upon an ordinary person. They should also be personally liable for harm caused by reckless or malicious use of their authority. Elected officials and explicitly political appointees should be under the most intense scrutiny in this regard.
People in positions of public trust who abuse their authority in any way should face penalties for their activity which are above and beyond what would be meted upon an ordinary person. They should also be personally liable for harm caused by reckless or malicious use of their authority. Elected officials and explicitly political appointees should be under the most intense scrutiny in this regard.
Ballot initiatives are a great way for voters to get a very direct say in implementing broad policy. However, just as we don't ask voters at large to understand the nuances of flying an aircraft or of performing open heart surgery (despite both of these things being heavily regulated), it is unfair to expect the average person to be able to interpret the complex fiscal analysis required to implement programs successfully. A good compromise approach here is to require citizen-initiated ballot proposals to not affect revenue collection or programmatic spending, and instead to leave that side of implementation to the elected legislature.
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.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate New York State Assembly District 8 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 24, 2024
Current members of the New York State Assembly
Leadership
Speaker of the House:Carl Heastie
Representatives
District 1
Thomas Schiavoni (D)
District 2
Jodi Giglio (R)
District 3
Joseph DeStefano (R)
District 4
Rebecca Kassay (D)
District 5
Doug Smith (R)
District 6
Philip Ramos (D)
District 7
Jarett Gandolfo (R)
District 8
District 9
Michael Durso (R)
District 10
Steve Stern (D)
District 11
Kwani O'Pharrow (D)
District 12
Keith Brown (R)
District 13
Charles Lavine (D)
District 14
David McDonough (R)
District 15
Jake Blumencranz (R)
District 16
Daniel Norber (R)
District 17
John Mikulin (R)
District 18
Noah Burroughs (D)
District 19
Edward Ra (R)
District 20
Eric Brown (R)
District 21
Judy Griffin (D)
District 22
District 23
Stacey Amato (D)
District 24
David Weprin (D)
District 25
Nily Rozic (D)
District 26
District 27
Sam Berger (D)
District 28
Andrew Hevesi (D)
District 29
Alicia Hyndman (D)
District 30
Steven Raga (D)
District 31
Khaleel Anderson (D)
District 32
Vivian Cook (D)
District 33
Clyde Vanel (D)
District 34
District 35
Larinda Hooks (D)
District 36
Zohran Mamdani (D)
District 37
Claire Valdez (D)
District 38
Jenifer Rajkumar (D)
District 39
Catalina Cruz (D)
District 40
Ron Kim (D)
District 41
Kalman Yeger (D)
District 42
District 43
Brian Cunningham (D)
District 44
Robert Carroll (D)
District 45
Michael Novakhov (R)
District 46
District 47
William Colton (D)
District 48
District 49
Lester Chang (R)
District 50
Emily Gallagher (D)
District 51
Marcela Mitaynes (D)
District 52
Jo Simon (D)
District 53
Maritza Davila (D)
District 54
Erik Dilan (D)
District 55
Latrice Walker (D)
District 56
Stefani Zinerman (D)
District 57
District 58
District 59
Jaime Williams (D)
District 60
Nikki Lucas (D)
District 61
Charles Fall (D)
District 62
Michael Reilly (R)
District 63
Samuel Pirozzolo (R)
District 64
District 65
Grace Lee (D)
District 66
Deborah Glick (D)
District 67
Linda Rosenthal (D)
District 68
Eddie Gibbs (D)
District 69
Micah Lasher (D)
District 70
Jordan Wright (D)
District 71
Alfred Taylor (D)
District 72
District 73
Alex Bores (D)
District 74
Harvey Epstein (D)
District 75
Tony Simone (D)
District 76
District 77
Landon Dais (D)
District 78
George Alvarez (D)
District 79
Chantel Jackson (D)
District 80
John Zaccaro (D)
District 81
Jeffrey Dinowitz (D)
District 82
District 83
Carl Heastie (D)
District 84
Amanda Septimo (D)
District 85
Emerita Torres (D)
District 86
Yudelka Tapia (D)
District 87
Karines Reyes (D)
District 88
Amy Paulin (D)
District 89
J. Pretlow (D)
District 90
Nader Sayegh (D)
District 91
Steven Otis (D)
District 92
Maryjane Shimsky (D)
District 93
Chris Burdick (D)
District 94
Matthew Slater (R)
District 95
Dana Levenberg (D)
District 96
Patrick Carroll (D)
District 97
Aron Wieder (D)
District 98
Karl Brabenec (R)
District 99
District 100
Paula Kay (D)
District 101
Brian Maher (R)
District 102
District 103
District 104
District 105
Anil Beephan (R)
District 106
Didi Barrett (D)
District 107
Scott Bendett (R)
District 108
John McDonald (D)
District 109
Gabriella Romero (D)
District 110
Phil Steck (D)
District 111
District 112
Mary Walsh (R)
District 113
Carrie Woerner (D)
District 114
Matthew Simpson (R)
District 115
Vacant
District 116
Scott Gray (R)
District 117
District 118
Robert Smullen (R)
District 119
District 120
William Barclay (R)
District 121
Joe Angelino (R)
District 122
Brian Miller (R)
District 123
Donna Lupardo (D)
District 124
District 125
Anna Kelles (D)
District 126
John Lemondes (R)
District 127
Al Stirpe (D)
District 128
Pamela Hunter (D)
District 129
District 130
Brian Manktelow (R)
District 131
Jeff Gallahan (R)
District 132
Philip Palmesano (R)
District 133
Andrea Bailey (R)
District 134
Josh Jensen (R)
District 135
District 136
Sarah Clark (D)
District 137
Demond Meeks (D)
District 138
Harry Bronson (D)
District 139
Stephen Hawley (R)
District 140
William Conrad (D)
District 141
District 142
Patrick Burke (D)
District 143
District 144
Paul Bologna (R)
District 145
Angelo Morinello (R)
District 146
Karen McMahon (D)
District 147
David DiPietro (R)
District 148
Joe Sempolinski (R)
District 149
Jonathan Rivera (D)
District 150
Andrew Molitor (R)
Democratic Party (102)
Republican Party (47)
Vacancies (1)
