Katherine Walsh
Katherine Walsh (Democratic Party) ran for election to the New York State Assembly to represent District 51. She lost in the Democratic primary on June 23, 2020.
Walsh completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Walsh was born in New York, New York. She attended the University of California at Santa Cruz. Walsh's professional experience includes serving as head of cities, states, and regions with CDP North America (New York), beginning in 2013. She also worked with the Mayor of Philadelphia's Office of Sustainability, as a fellow with the Environmental Defense Fund Climate Corps from June 2013 to August 2013, with the Energy Foundation—China Sustainable Cities Program in Beijing, as a Blakely Foundation fellow from June 2013 to August 2013, and as a part of the scholar's program with the U.S. Department of Energy, Policy, and International Affairs from June 2011 to August 2011. Walsh provided the closing speech as a graduate student for the White House Leadership Summit on Women, Climate, and Energy in May 2013. She received the Environmental Defense Fund's William K. Bowes, Jr. Award for Leadership for her climate advocacy efforts in October 2018 and the Tufts Presidential Award for Public Service and Citizenship, for extracurricular participation in May 2013.[1]
Elections
2020
See also: New York State Assembly elections, 2020
General election
General election for New York State Assembly District 51
Marcela Mitaynes won election in the general election for New York State Assembly District 51 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Marcela Mitaynes (D / Working Families Party) | 99.0 | 27,954 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 1.0 | 284 | ||
| Total votes: 28,238 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for New York State Assembly District 51
Marcela Mitaynes defeated incumbent Felix Ortiz, Katherine Walsh, and Genesis Aquino in the Democratic primary for New York State Assembly District 51 on June 23, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Marcela Mitaynes | 34.9 | 3,607 |
 | Felix Ortiz | 32.2 | 3,327 | |
 | Katherine Walsh | 23.7 | 2,446 | |
| Genesis Aquino | 9.0 | 935 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 22 | ||
| Total votes: 10,337 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Working Families Party primary election
The Working Families Party primary election was canceled. Marcela Mitaynes advanced from the Working Families Party primary for New York State Assembly District 51.
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Katherine Walsh completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Walsh'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 am an urban planner with a focus on climate change action. I have worked with city and state governments across the United States for the past 10 years to develop solutions to the kinds of complex problems that my community faces in green housing, sustainable transportation, and green jobs development. I was previously a teacher and managed a Chinese language program at a public university. I am a Community Board 7 member and was elected Chair of our Democratic County Committee to end complacency and political corruption in the local party. Last year, I started efforts to fight "last-mile" trucking facilities being planned in my district and recently started a mutual aid network "South Brooklyn Mutual Aid" to provide food and essentials delivery assistance during COVID to my most vulnerable neighbors.
- Everyday New Yorkers struggle to pay rent due to sky-rocketing rent increases and my district is not alone in paying a disproportionate share of income for rent. COVID has made this even worse while many families are choosing between paying rent and other necessary expenses, like food. In the long-term, my plan for promoting affordable housing includes building homeownership through a new Mitchell-Lama program and investing in NYCHA. In the immediate, we need to protect tenants from evictions to prevent our surging homelessness and displacement.
- District 51 is composed of many different thriving immigrant communities and we must pass legislation that protects our immigrant neighbors. However, ICE raids and discriminatory policies, like Trump's public charge rule, increasingly terrorize undocumented families and prevent them from accessing the benefits and services they need and deserve. I am running for office to ensure District 51 -- and all of New York -- remains a place where people from anywhere can make a home and build a better life.
- The climate crisis is the defining issue of our time. We need energetic leaders who know how to urgently address the joint problems of climate change action and wealth inequality at the same time. With my decade of experience in climate action, I will work tirelessly to build resilience to future climate-related disasters and pass a Green New Deal that works for everyday New Yorkers for good, green jobs. COVID has made it that much more urgent that we also pass universal health insurance and fully fund our public schools so that our young people from K-12 to SUNY, CUNY can have a quality education.
- Improving our public transportation system so that all New Yorkers have access to safe, affordable, and green transportation and making our streets safer and our air cleaner
- Reforming our criminal justice system to eliminate racial bias, limit solitary confinement, and decrease the needlessly high prison population
- Expanding democratic participation by reducing barriers to voting and extending voting rights to those with resident status and those who were formerly incarcerated
- Fighting corruption in government and restoring justice and accountability
- Protecting the rights of unions to collectively organize and bargain
- Protecting women's reproductive health and ensuring protections for LGBTQI+ including repealing 'Walking While Trans" (Penal Law Section 240.37)
Any existing inequities in our society, of which there are many, around environmental and economic justice are going to mean that communities like mine which are working class, immigrant and communities of color, are going to be hit harder. That's why we need leaders who take action well before a crisis hits; and we are not getting that kind of leadership out of our current State Assemblymember.
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
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 27, 2020
