Our Favorite Progressive Candidates in 2026 - Christian Celeste Tate, New York State Assembly District 54
After the election of mayor Zohran Mamdani in 2025, the Democratic Socialists of America are flexing their muscle in races all over New York City, putting forward 10 candidates at the federal and state levels. One of these candidates is Christian Celeste Tate (he/him), a biracial millennial consultant who works with nonprofits to fight poverty, reduce inequality, and bring about social change. Christian’s platform calls for abolishing ICE, fighting predatory real estate investors, taxing the rich, and using grassroots organizing and electoral campaigning to build a socialist movement across the city.
© Alexandra Chan
Where are you based?
Bushwick, Brooklyn!
What position are you running for?
Running for State Assembly District 54, which includes parts of Bushwick and East New York (including Cypress Hills and City Line) .
How would you briefly summarize your platform?
I’m running to keep people in their homes, protect each other from ICE, and build public safety through community investment. This campaign is part of a much bigger movement to build working class power in our city. This is about working people standing together to take our power back.
What inspired you to run?
I have been organizing in Bushwick and East New York for years. Through the Community Board, NYC-DSA, the East New York Community Land Trust, New York Communities for Change, and more, I have spent countless hours pounding the pavement with my neighbors to build a better future — and doing that work made me fall in love with this community. This is such a beautifully multi-ethnic, multi-colored, multilingual community, and yet there is a deep commitment to moving together. Our community embodies the importance of solidarity and I have drawn endless inspiration from that.
As an organizer, I can see very clearly what a difference it makes when we have elected officials who are about the work. Shoutout City Councilmember Sandy Nurse and State Senator Julia Salazar, we have some really incredible representatives here who are truly about the work. I’m running for Assembly because our current Assembly Member is missing in action and we are all suffering the consequences of that.
What change are you hoping to bring to your district and country?
As a democratic socialist, I am running to build working class power and solidarity. We live in the wealthiest city on Earth, and yet a quarter of New York families live in poverty. Every year, the wealthy accumulate more and more power while the working class — Black, brown, and immigrant communities especially — are pitted against each other as if there isn’t enough to go around. We have the power to build the city we deserve: one where everyone has access to housing, health care, safety, and dignity.
© Alexandra Chan
What do you consider to be your major accomplishments so far?
As a community organizer, I am deeply proud of the work I’ve done in community with my neighbors. With the East New York Community Land Trust, I’ve knocked on hundreds of doors to help end the tax lien sale, I’ve organized rallies against some of the biggest slumlords in the city, and I’ve stood with neighbors in court to help stop deed theft. As North Brooklyn Chapter Chair for New York Communities for Change, I’ve organized neighbors to support campaigns to tax the rich, freeze the rent, and create a public bank. As First Vice Chair of Community Board 4, I co-authored the 2025 Responsible Development Policy, a comprehensive set of community demands for housing development in Bushwick. As Chair of the Board’s Committee on Transportation, I organized community members to advocate for ADA compliance at Bushwick subway stations, leading the MTA to include full accessibility of Wilson Ave in the 2025-29 capital plan.
What do you feel are the most important issues right now, why, and how do you plan to tackle them?
I believe that protecting each other from ICE is not only the most important issue right now, it is perhaps the most important issue of my generation. If elected, I will immediately sign onto New York for All, Dignity Not Detention, Access to Representation, and the MELT Act. Collectively, these bills would prevent state and local police agencies from collaborating with ICE, prohibit immigration detention facilities from operating in the state, guarantee New Yorkers access to lawyers in deportation proceedings, and prevent federal agents from masking their identities.
Beyond legislation, I will use my platform to educate New Yorkers about what is happening in our neighborhoods and across the country. The better we understand enforcement tactics, the better equipped we are to keep each other safe. Our campaign has already sponsored a Know Your Rights training and I look forward to collaborating on additional community defense trainings in the future. The violence of the Trump Administration requires more than just quotable speeches. We are in a moment in which our state government needs to be in direct opposition to our federal government in order to keep New Yorkers safe.
America is extremely divided these days. How would you hope to bridge that divide with your constituents to better unite Americans?
It’s true that Americans are extremely divided these days, but I think that’s by design. People with wealth and power in our society have always worked to undermine class solidarity by pitting working class people—Black, brown, and immigrant communities especially—against one another. I hope to bridge that gap by demonstrating what class solidarity looks like. We have to remember that we are the many and there is far more that connects us than there is that divides us. The reality is that we will only win the world we deserve if working class people stand together to demand that our government meet everybody’s needs.
© Alexandra Chan
How do you see your unique identity and background to be an asset to you in office?
In terms of my background, I come from a working class family and I grew up watching my parents hustle to make ends meet. Growing up, it felt like no matter how hard my parents worked—no matter how deeply they stressed or how much they sacrificed—financial security was always out of reach. My high school years were largely defined by the financial strain my family endured and the housing insecurity that stemmed from it. And unfortunately, my story is a common one. The reality is that there are generations of families like mine; we have centuries of evidence that our current system can never meet people’s needs, not because the system is broken, but because the system has always been rigged against working families like mine.
In terms of my identity, as the biracial son of divorced parents who grew up navigating wealth inequality on a daily basis, I’ve spent much of my life engaging across lines of difference. I’m grateful to have grown up in that context because I believe it made me very good at connecting with folks. I love people—and when I meet someone new my inclination is to find the thing we share in common, be it a hope or a fear or a strength or an insecurity, and build on that. There is so much more that connects us than there is that divides us and I think I naturally seek out those points of common ground.
What is your motto in life?
I don’t know that I have a motto, to be honest. But when I think about how I move through space I reflect on trying to listen more than I speak. As an organizer, I am deeply inspired by the people around me and so much of my journey has been about unlearning the things I was taught and instead learning from the experiences of others. From capitalist individualism to gender roles, so much of what we are taught is toxic. I’m grateful for the people around me because I can see and feel how their passion and vulnerability has set a powerful example for me. Collective power is transformational but it requires us to actually see and be seen by each other—and that’s not always easy.
Where can we find out more about you?
Our campaign website and socials! Check out www.cct4nyc.com or follow us @cct4nyc to learn more. And always feel free to reach out to us with questions!
