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Congress

Zak Malamed speaks about candidacy for George Santos’ seat

Malamed founded The Next 50

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2 years ago

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Zak Malamed, Democratic candidate for New York's 3rd Congressional District (Photo credit: Zak for Congress)

Zak Malamed, a Democrat running for the House seat of embattled U.S. Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), spoke with the Washington Blade by phone on Monday about his candidacy in what is expected to be one of the most consequential and closely watched congressional races of 2024.

“My hometown congressional district will make the difference between whether Republicans or Democrats control the House,” in turn determining the fate of legislative protections for the LGBTQ community and solutions to tackle crises like gun violence and the scarcity of affordable housing, he said.

It is not enough, however, just to elect Democrats at a time that calls for a new generation of leadership, Malamed said, including for his would-be constituents whose elected representatives have included “complacent” members of Congress from his own party.

Prior to Santos, New York’s 3rd Congressional District was represented by Tom Suozzi, a Democrat who last year defended Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, calling the measure prohibiting classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity “reasonable” and “common sense.”

Time reported in May that Suozzi, a declared candidate in the race, is “said to be among the party’s favorites for retaking the seat.”

Eight months ahead of the Democratic primary, where he is slated to face off against five other hopefuls including a member of the Nassau County Legislature and a former New York state senator, Malamed said he has “out-raised the entire field.”

This includes the lone Republican challenger who has entered the race as well as Santos, whose reelection campaign recently had to refund more to its donors than it had collected in contributions.

Running the only campaign that is not even partially self-funded, Malamed has also raised more than any candidate from either party vying to unseat the other three GOP incumbents whose House districts include Long Island: U.S. Reps. Nick LaLota, Anthony D’Esposito and Andrew Garbarino.

Malamed is a founder of The Next 50, a group that has helped elect multiple LGBTQ candidates across the country, along with other high profile Democrats like Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.)

“If we take anything constructive away from George Santos being elected to represent this district in Congress, it’s that this district was unequivocally looking for something new — just not someone who lied about being Jewish, lied about having relatives who survived the Holocaust, and lied about starting a nonprofit,” he said.

In the months following Santos’ election in 2022, his constituents would learn their congressman had also fabricated an astonishing number of other details about his life and career, along with the news that he was under investigation by multiple law enforcement agencies for alleged financial crimes.

On Oct. 10, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York charged Santos with a 23-count criminal indictment for conspiracy, wire fraud, false statements, falsification of records, aggravated identity theft and credit card fraud.

A Jewish candidate with deep ties to his district

Ninety-four percent of Jewish voters in Santos’ district said they wanted him to resign according to a Newsday/Sienna College poll in January, which came after news reports revealed Santos’ claims of being “a proud Jew” with grandparents who fled Europe during World War II were bogus.

“The irony of those components of his story is that it’s actually my story, and it’s a big reason why I chose to step up and run, which has only become of greater consequence in this moment when the Jewish people in particular are under great threat in this country,” Malamed said.

He recounted the story of how, 10 years after she tuned into a radio broadcast to hear the U.N. officially recognize the state of Israel for the first time on May 11, 1949, his grandmother relocated from Tel Aviv to Lake Success, N.Y., the village in Great Neck on Long Island where the intergovernmental organization was then headquartered.

The area is also located within the congressional district, one of the nation’s most Jewish, that her grandson is now running to represent in Congress. Malamed, who was born and raised in Great Neck, stressed the seriousness with which he takes the responsibility of doing right by this community, which “has long been a beacon” for Jewish people “nationally and even internationally.”

Especially now, he said, in the aftermath of the deadly terrorist attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, as “antisemitism is skyrocketing” and threats to the security of Israel “are as grave as as they’ve been since my grandmother was listening to that radio address 75 years ago.”

Asked whether he expects Jewish voters in the district will be as monolithic against Santos as they were when answering that survey nine months ago, perhaps in light of his vocal support for Israel in recent weeks, Malamed responded that negative views of the congressman are monolithic among practically all voters in NY-03.

Additionally, he said, even right-leaning Jewish constituents are warming to President Joe Biden and Democratic leadership in Congress because they have seen their staunch support for and allyship with the state of Israel.

Malamed added that “up until, I think, last week, George Santos had more primary opponents than I had,” but Republican candidates have been dropping out of the race as the party “both locally and, as we’ve seen now, nationally, is in utter chaos.”

An antidote to House GOP’s dysfunction and extremism

Recent weeks have seen the Republican led House embroiled in infighting and dysfunction, leaderless 20 days after group of far-right members ousted their speaker, Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), in part because he had brokered a deal with Democrats to forestall a government shutdown with a last-minute stop-gap spending bill.

The move came after weeks in which House Republicans had insisted on adding partisan, far-right provisions, many of which were anti-LGBTQ, to appropriations bills that have historically passed with broad bipartisan support — despite the certainty that with these amendments, they would be dead-on-arrival in the Democratic controlled Senate.

Malamed denounced extremism within the House GOP conference, including Santos, who despite being openly-gay has supported legislation attacking drag performances and the transgender community and backed a bill to make the AR-15 the “national gun” of the U.S.

If elected, Malamed said his support for the LGBTQ community will be unwavering and unequivocal,” adding that residents in his district and the American people deserve nothing less from their elected representatives, whether they are Republicans or Democrats.

“I grew up in a time where I’ve seen rights expand, and yet in the past year or two some some rights for Americans are now being stripped and taken away and that absolutely must not happen to the LGBTQ community,” he said.

“We need to make sure that we work to combat discrimination, that we work to expand rights and make sure that our LGBTQ community members feel the support of their leaders and their government.”

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Congress

Shaheen, Collins reintroduce bill prohibiting anti-LGBTQ discrimination in jury service

Senators note the absence of protections in federal courtrooms

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2 days ago

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June 18, 2025

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U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) reintroduced a bill on Wednesday that would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity during the federal jury selection process.

The bipartisan Jury Access for Capable Citizens and Equality in Service Selection (ACCESS) Act would enshrine protections for LGBTQ Americans who are serving or who might be selected to serve on juries, alongside rules proscribing discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, and economic status that are already enforced in federal courtrooms.

Co-sponsoring the bill with Shaheen and Collins are U.S. Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.)

“Serving on a jury is a civic duty that no one should be prevented from fulfilling because of who they are or who they love,” Shaheen said in a press release. “It’s preposterous that under current law there are no protections prohibiting discrimination against LGBTQ+ jurors in federal courts and Congress must take action to rectify this injustice.” 

“Serving on a jury is a fundamental right and obligation that no individual should be prohibited from fulfilling based on their sexual orientation or gender identity,” said Collins. “I have long worked to fight discrimination, and I am proud to join this effort to help eliminate bias from our judicial system.” 

Amid the absence of nationwide protections, the release notes that only 17 states “prohibit exclusion from jury service in state court based on sexual orientation” while “just 12 protect against discrimination based on gender identity.”

This spring, Democratic lawmakers from the House and the Senate, including leadership from both chambers, reintroduced the Equality Act, which would codify LGBTQ inclusive federal nondiscrimination rules in a range of contexts from employment and housing to public accommodations and education.

Shaheen and Collins were integral to the bill’s inclusion of protections applying to jury service.

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Congress

Torres: gay Venezuelan asylum seeker is ‘poster child’ for Trump’s ‘abuses against due process’

Congressman spoke with the Blade Thursday

Published

6 days ago

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June 13, 2025

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Democratic U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York told the Washington Blade during an interview Thursday that his party erred in focusing so much attention on demands for the Trump-Vance administration to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the U.S. when the wrongful deportation of Andry Hernández Romero “was much more egregious.”

Hernández is a gay Venezuelan national who was deported to El Salvador in March and imprisoned in the country’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, a maximum-security prison known by the Spanish acronym CECOT.

“In the case of Andry, the government admits that it has no evidence of gang membership, but he was deported without due process, without a notification to his attorney, without a court hearing to contest the allegations against him, without a court order authorizing his deportation,” the congressman said.

“He had not even the slightest semblance of due process,” Torres said. “And even though he had a court hearing scheduled for March 17, the Trump administration proceeded to deport him on March 15, in violation of a court order.”

“I think we as a party should have held up Andry as the poster child for the abuses against due process, because his case is much more sympathetic,” Torres said. “There’s no one who thinks that Andry is a gang member.”

“Also,” the congressman added, “he’s not a quote-unquote illegal immigrant. He was a lawful asylum seeker. He sought asylum lawfully under the statutes of the United States, but he was deported unlawfully at the hands of the Trump administration.”

Torres was among the 49 members of Congress who joined with Democratic U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff of California in writing to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday demanding information about Romero, including proof of life.

The lawmakers urged the State Department to facilitate his access to legal counsel and take steps to return him, expressing fear for his safety — concerns that Torres reiterated on Thursday.

“Jails and prisons can be dangerous places for gay men, and that is especially true of a place like CECOT,” the congressman said. “He fled Latin America to escape violent homophobia. There are a few places on earth that have as much institutionalized homophobia as jails and prisons, and so I do fear for his safety.”

“I released a video telling the story of Andry,” Torres noted, adding, “I feel like we have to do more to raise awareness and the video is only the beginning … And you know, the fact that Abrego Garcia is returning to the United States shows that the administration has the ability to bring back the migrants who were unlawfully deported.”

Torres spoke with the Blade just after Padilla was forcibly removed from a federal building in Los Angeles after attempting to question U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a press conference on immigration Thursday.

Footage of the senator being pushed out of the room, onto the floor, and handcuffed by officers wearing FBI identifying vests drew outrage from top Democrats in California and beyond.

“It’s the latest reminder that Donald Trump and his administration have no respect for anything or anyone but himself,” Torres told the Blade. “And every bit as outrageous as Donald Trump himself has been the enabling on the part of the congressional Republicans who are aiding and abetting his authoritarian abuses.”

“We have to be vigilant in resisting Donald Trump,” the congressman said. “We have to resist him on the streets through grassroots mobilization. We have to resist him in the courtrooms through litigation. We have to resist him in the halls of Congress through legislation.”

Torres added that “we have to win back the majority in 2026” and “if Republicans have no interest in holding Donald Trump accountable, then those Republicans should be fired from public office” because “we need a Congress that is able and willing to hold Donald Trump accountable, to stand up to his authoritarian assault on our democracy.”

Resisting is “a matter of free speech,” he said, noting that the president’s aim is to “create a reign of terror that intimidates people into silence,” but “we cannot remain silent. We have to unapologetically and courageously exercise our right to free speech, our right to assemble peacefully, and our right to resist an authoritarian president like Donald Trump.”

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Congress

Padilla forcibly removed from federal building for questioning DHS secretary

Prominent Democrats rushed to defend senator

Published

1 week ago

on

June 12, 2025

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U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Democratic U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla of California was forcibly removed from a federal building in Los Angeles after attempting to ask questions of U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a press conference on immigration Thursday

The city has been rattled in recent days as protestors objecting to the Trump-Vance administration’s immigration crackdowns clashed with law enforcement and then the president deployed National Guard troops and U.S. Marines, which was seen as a dramatic escalation.

According to a video shared by his office, the senator, who serves as ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, introduced himself and said, I have questions for the secretary.” After he was pushed out of the room, officers with FBI-identifying vests told Padilla to put his hands behind his back and handcuffed him.

“Senator Padilla is currently in Los Angeles exercising his duty to perform Congressional oversight of the federal government’s operations in Los Angeles and across California,” reads a statement from his office.

“He was in the federal building to receive a briefing with General Guillot and was listening to Secretary Noem’s press conference,” the statement continued. “He tried to ask the secretary a question, and was forcibly removed by federal agents, forced to the ground and handcuffed. He is not currently detained, and we are working to get additional information.”

Democrats were furious, with many releasing strong statements online condemning the actions of law enforcement officers, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D), and the state’s other U.S. senator, Adam Schiff (D).

Human Rights Campaign Chief of Staff Jay Brown also issued a statement: “A sitting U.S. senator should be allowed to ask a Cabinet secretary a question at a press conference — in his own state, on an issue affecting his constituents — without being violently thrown to the floor and handcuffed. Everyone who cares about our country must condemn this undemocratic act. Full stop.”



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