Nurses Strike Will (Partially) Continue + Aber Kawas Now Running for State Senate
No. 466 | Monday, February 16, 2026
The Thorn is published weekly by the Electoral Working Group of the NYC Democratic Socialists of America.
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Local News
Nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian rejected a proposed contract by an overwhelming margin after the proposal did not meet the union’s demand for additional staffing and better nurse-to-patient ratios. The strike will continue there, while nurses at Mount Sinai and Montefiore voted to return to work.
Jabez Chakraboty, the Queens man who was shot by the NYPD last month during a schizophrenic episode, was charged with assault by Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani went to Albany with revised estimates of the City’s budget shortfall, now $7 billion. While he continued his calls to tax the tich, he skipped a Tax the Rich rally, apparently in an effort to avoid an open confrontation with Governor Kathy Hochul, who has resisted calls to raise taxes.
Immigration advocates are unhappy that Gov. Hochul’s proposal to limit cooperation with ICE will sunset at the end of President Trump’s term.
Miscommunication between the NYPD and City Hall led to confusion over at least 26 deaths related to the City’s recent cold spell, illustrating structural problems with the City’s response.
Election News
Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris announced that he will not run for reelection in his progressive Western Queens district. Aber Kawas, who NYC-DSA had previously endorsed for Assembly District 34, is now running for the seat being vacated by Gianaris, with the support of DSA, Make the Road Action, and the Working Families Party.
The Working Families Party will endorse Latoya LeGrand in Assembly District 32 (Southeast Queens), setting up a clash with Queens Democratic Party boss Gregory Meeks, who has endorsed his own former deputy chief of staff. LeGrand previously worked for the retiring incumbent, Vivian Cook.
A study from Carnegie Mellon projects that New York will lose two Congressional seats in the next US Census due to its housing shortage.
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