Claire Valdez Wins NY-7 With a Transit Expansion Plan

Card photograph: ARCHIVE. Claire Valdez at the Queens Bus Network Redesign announcement, June 26, 2025. Photo: Marc A. Hermann / Metropolitan Transportation Authority, CC BY 4.0. Cropped for the card. License. Source photograph.

Claire Valdez won New York’s 7th Congressional District on November 3, NPR reports, citing the Associated Press. The assemblymember and union organizer will succeed retiring representative Nydia Velázquez in a seat covering parts of Brooklyn and Queens.

Valdez used a March Streetsblog essay to explain what she wants Congress to fund. She proposed federal transit formulas that give more weight to ridership, support for the Interborough Express linking Brooklyn and Queens, and restoration of weekend G train service to Forest Hills.

Her proposals join Donavan McKinney’s call to reduce Detroit’s dependence on cars. Both incoming members treat transport as a working-class expense that public investment can reduce.

The Forward independently reported her victory in the heavily Democratic district, one of five House seats won by new Democratic Socialists of America members. Mayor Zohran Mamdani endorsed Valdez. Her move to Washington follows her election to the state Assembly in 2024.

ARCHIVE. Claire Valdez, left, and Harvey Epstein at a rally supporting gender-affirming care outside NYU Langone Health in September 2026. Photo: Jatwa / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. License. Source photograph.

Repairing the damage done by highways

She also proposed expanding the Reconnecting Communities program beyond its narrow capital-project and planning uses, so federal funds could repair highway damage and support walking, cycling and transit.

Valdez’s route proposals depend on federal funding and decisions by transport agencies. Her planned intervention is in the formulas and grants Congress controls: the rules determining which projects receive money and what that money can pay for.

Her Streetsblog proposal would send federal highway money directly to large cities, give them more street-design discretion and reserve funds for walking, cycling and public space.

Valdez also identifies station accessibility and the proposed Ridgewood busway under the M train as priorities. Adding rail mileage would not help a passenger who still cannot enter a station.

Union rights, rent control and an arms cutoff

Her housing platform combines rent regulation with public construction and tenant power. The employment program combines a guaranteed living-wage job with paid parental and sick leave. These are proposals for reducing workers’ dependence on a particular boss or landlord, rather than relying on growth alone to improve their bargaining position.

Her labor platform calls for strengthening and passing the PRO Act, active federal support for organizing and an end to at-will employment. It pairs those demands with universal rent control, public investment in housing and Medicare for All.

The campaign’s Puerto Rico program is similarly specific. Valdez proposes reintroducing self-determination legislation, cancelling the island’s debt and ending control by unelected financial overseers. She also calls for a publicly accountable renewable-energy system and resilient infrastructure built with union labor. Her opposition to U.S. domination therefore includes the ownership and administration of essential services, as well as the island’s political status.

Her campaign also opposes weapons sales and military aid to Israel and supports Palestinian freedom.

For transit riders, the proposals reach into hours usually left out of discussions about wages. A faster, reliable journey can shorten the unpaid time surrounding a shift. Expanding service to Forest Hills and linking Brooklyn with Queens would put that benefit on identifiable routes, rather than leave it at a promise of better infrastructure.