The Race To Elect District 23's First Female Council Member

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — A month before Linda Lee won District 23’s City Council primary race, she claimed that her Democratic opponent directed a misogynistic message at her, chalking her campaign up to “vote for me, I’m a mommy.”

At the time, a spokesperson for her campaign told Patch that the message was “upsetting” since Lee — a mother-of-two and the president and CEO of Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York — has “worked her entire life to be defined by her accomplishments and not her gender.”

Lee, however, is now poised to make history on the basis of her gender as the first woman to represent the northeast Queens district: a position she said she’s “humbled” to hold but, seemingly, still fighting to make known that she earned on the basis of her work.

“More often than not it’s the issue areas that stand out more with voters than identity,” Lee told Patch in a recent interview, adding that she credits her campaign’s success, in large part, to its alignment with the values of her district.

Sure, a part of Lee thought about how she was perceived while door-knocking on the campaign, she admitted. “People open the door and see an Asian woman, obviously," she said.

But, for her, identity was always secondary to conversations about priorities.

“[My identity] quickly fades away once we start talking about the issues we all have in common. We want streets to be safe, we want District 26 schools to be good,” she said.

“Sometimes we’d get into ‘oh yeah, I’m from the Korean community and these are my parents,’ but most often times that never came up. It was always about what are the issues that are important to you, that’s where the conversation stuck.”

‘Voting for a Linda Lee’

Still, Lee is “well-aware” that some people in her district “feel more comfortable voting for a James Reilly than a Linda Lee” — alluding to her white, male Republican opponent who didn't respond to a request for comment from Patch.

It’s just not a sentiment that she felt from voters at their doorsteps, she said. In other words, she doesn't think sexism and racism are absent from the District 23 race — or others, citywide — but, she thinks her appeal has transcended identity.

When asked about Jaslin Kaur, a contender in District 23's Democratic primary who said she faced “rampant misogyny and intimidation” from other male candidates on the basis of her age and race, Lee countered that Kaur might have had a different experience because of her progressive platform.

“Identity definitely plays a role,” she said of how people perceive campaigns, adding that when it comes to her and Kaur’s campaigns, however, the two might have been seen differently “because obviously our policy stances on certain things are different. I feel that the things I wanted to push and see in the district are very much in alignment with the values of the district.”

Kaur, on the other hand, told Patch earlier in the race that “there's really something to be said about how a woman has never represented our district in the council before," pointing out a number of factors, including sexism, that have resulted in a gender imbalance in her district’s leadership — and the city’s council at large.

Only 14 women currently hold seats in the 51-member body, a balance that is poised to shift as the vast majority of the next City Council will likely be women.

Working on a more diverse Council

When asked directly about the significance of serving as the district's first Asian American Council Member, however, Lee says it is meaningful to offer representation for constituents — many of whom haven’t seen someone on the Council who shares their life experiences; like being the daughter of immigrant small business owners, or an Asian American mother.

“Some community members have told me, ‘you could be our daughter who won the seat,’” she said. “I think they feel very proud.”

Lee also sees her campaign as a reflection of how demographics are changing in the city; Queens’ Asian community has grown 29 percent since 2010, and many Asian candidates and community groups are taking aim at political power and representation, as The City reported.

“The tides are turning and things are shifting,” she said, pointing out that she’s poised to become among the first two Korean Americans to ever sit on the Council alongside Julie Won in Long Island City.

And, Lee thinks the city will be better served by a council with more diversity and more women: "Our experiences of struggling to try and get into our seats has forced us to understand how to work with people and find commonality,” she said of herself and other possibly soon-to-be elected female council Members.

“We’re not all going to agree, but we’ll know how to get things done and move the needle, because we have a lot of work to do.”

Patch also contacted Republican candidate James Reilly requesting an interview. His campaign did not respond.