A little over a year ago, when her local assemblyman decided to run a long-shot campaign for mayor of New York City, an immigrant organizer named Diana Moreno put her hand up to help make the launch video.
“I want to raise my kid in New York,” she says during a brief appearance onscreen, endorsing the candidate’s proposal for free child care as she pushes her son’s stroller down the block.
Neither could have anticipated what would happen next. The candidate, Zohran Mamdani, is now mayor, and on Tuesday, Ms. Moreno, who had never run for public office before, won a lopsided special election to serve out his term in the State Assembly, according to The Associated Press.
The outcome was never in real doubt. Mr. Mamdani lent his star power to help Ms. Moreno raise funds and turn out voters in the left-leaning district in Astoria and Long Island City in Queens. She had the endorsement of both the Democratic Socialists of America and moderate party leaders it often wars with.
But race between Ms. Moreno and two fellow leftists, Rana Abdelhamid and Mary Jobaida, nonetheless offered a preview of the type of candidates Mr. Mamdani is using his power to support in state and congressional races later this year.
Like him, Ms. Moreno, 38, is a young immigrant who served in D.S.A. leadership and is committed to the organization’s growth. She shares his policy commitments to enact government-funded child care and stronger protections for tenants and immigrants.
And like others attracting the support of Mr. Mamdani, 34, including the congressional candidate Claire Valdez, Ms. Moreno was loyal to him at a time when most Democrats — and even some socialists — treated his mayoral ambitions as fancifully far-fetched.
Speaking at her victory party Tuesday night, after Ms. Moreno won almost 75 percent of the vote, Mr. Mamdani stressed that she had distinguished herself as a loyal adherent to the larger socialist project.
“What makes us special is not who we are as individuals,” he said. “It’s what we are all fighting for together. Diana has always been there when this movement needed her.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Ms. Moreno vowed to be one of the mayor’s “unwavering allies” in Albany as he attempts to push through an ambitious set of priorities, including the early components of his child care plan and billions of dollars in tax increases.
“This is the place where we get to show the world what the alternative to fascism is, which is democratic socialism,” she told supporters.
The race to fill the mayor’s old district was one of four special legislative elections that took place across New York on Tuesday, all in left-leaning districts. Democrats won the other three as well, and did not face serious opposition, according to The Associated Press.
In Manhattan, Erik Bottcher, a city councilman and L.G.B.T.Q. rights activist, easily was elected to a West Side State Senate seat, replacing Brad Hoylman-Sigal, the new borough president.
On the East Side, another Council veteran who recently served as majority leader, Keith Powers, won a contest to replace Harvey Epstein in the Assembly. Mr. Epstein, also a Democrat, was elected to the Council last November.
And in Buffalo, voters chose Jeremy Zellner, the longtime chairman of the Erie County Democratic Party and an ally of Gov. Kathy Hochul, to fill a State Senate seat vacated by Sean Ryan, who was sworn in on Jan. 1 as the city’s new mayor.
Given Mr. Mamdani’s involvement, the scramble for his Assembly seat was the most closely followed.
Not all Democrats agreed with the mayor’s recommendation of who should succeed him in the Assembly. Representative Nydia M. Velázquez, who is clashing with Mr. Mamdani over who should succeed her in Congress, backed Ms. Abdelhamid, a Muslim community organizer who founded a group to train women in self-defense. (It was not immediately clear if Ms. Abdelhamid would seek a rematch in June’s regularly scheduled Democratic primary.)
But Mr. Mamdani’s backing was persuasive in a district where he remains broadly popular with young college graduate transplants and immigrants from Egypt, Greece and parts of Latin America.
Ms. Moreno herself was born in Ecuador, and immigrated as a young woman to Florida. She only moved to New York City in 2019 to work for New Immigrant Community Empowerment, an advocacy group in Queens that runs job training and development programs, and more recently the New York State Nurses Association.
Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, Ms. Moreno said her immediate priorities in Albany would be pushing for legislation to stop localities from collaborating with federal immigration agents.
“There’s no question that we have to protect our immigrant neighbors,” she said. “It’s a human rights emergency.”
Ms. Moreno said she aligned with Mr. Mamdani on most issues. “But I can say I bring a different personal experience that will affect the way I navigate elected office. Including that I’m a mom.”
There may be one more notable difference.
Mr. Mamdani used the district as a springboard to City Hall. Ms. Moreno, for her part, said she would be more focused on winning a full term in office this year.
Nicholas Fandos is a Times reporter covering New York politics and government.
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