UES Assembly Challenger Opens Campaign Office In Neighborhood

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A young challenger attempting to primary one of the Upper East Side's representatives in the State Assembly opened a new district office in the neighborhood Monday night, a spokesperson for the campaign said.

Cameron Koffman, a 22-year-old running for the seat currently held by Assemblymember Dan Quart, held a party Monday night to celebrate the grand opening of the campaign office on 1045 First Ave. at the corner of East 57th Street. About 40 people who Koffman met on the street while petitioning attended the party, a campaign spokesman said.

The storefront space was previously occupied by the business Andre's Hungarian Bakery, which catered the Monday night grand opening.

"Our entire campaign is about being present in the community and listening to the concerns of its residents, something that has been missing from our Assemblymember for years. We're now the first campaign to be on-the-ground with a space dedicated to listening to voters each and every day, which I think is fitting given that we're the only campaign running to represent this area full-time," Koffman said in a statement.

Koffman's campaign office on First Avenue will have an open-door policy and will host events such as volunteer trainings, voter registration drives, petition signings and watch parties. The 22-year-old recent Yale graduate is hoping to become New York's youngest member of the State Assembly since Teddy Roosevelt took office at the age of 23 in 1882.

The young challenger with family connections to a real estate fortune — he's the grandson of LeFrak Organization tycoon Samuel LeFrak — is bolstered by impressive fundraising numbers. Koffman raised $449,323 between October 2019 and the end of the year, Politico reported in January.

Dan Quart, who has represented New York's 73rd Assembly District since a 2011 special election, is currently running for reelection and mounting a challenge against Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. in 2021. Quart previously dismissed Koffman's fundraising numbers in an interview with Politico, saying "the scion of the LeFrak family is trying to buy an Assembly seat."

Quart's background includes stints volunteering as a pro bono lawyer with the Legal Aid Society, representing low-income clients as a criminal defense attorney and eight years at the Community Board level before his election to the State Assembly in 2011. As a member of the Assembly, Quart has focused much of his attention on criminal justice reform. The lawmaker has backed policies such as ending cash bail, reforming campaign finance laws for DA races, decriminalizing sex work and ending surveillance-based gang indictments.