Emily Gallagher

Emily E. Gallagher (born March 23, 1984) is an American politician. She is the Democratic representative serving District 50 in the New York State Assembly, which comprises parts of Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Fort Greene, among other neighborhoods located in the northern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn.

Early life

Gallagher grew up in Rochester, New York, and moved to Greenpoint, Brooklyn shortly after graduating from Ithaca College in 2006.

Politics

Gallagher became involved in politics while attending Ithaca College in 2002. After moving to Brooklyn in 2006, she became deeply involved in neighborhood organizing especially around social and environmental justice organizing, and eventually came to know many local players and issues in the community over a decade of grassroots participation. At the time, Gallagher was uninspired by local politics because she did not see used to advance social justice. However, she did see the value of politicians who were willing to "stick their neck out" in office, and began to reconsider her position, becoming involved with the Brooklyn political organization New Kings Democrats. In 2016, New Kings Democrats approached Gallagher to consider a run for District Leader. Gallagher ran for Democratic leader of New York's 50th State Assembly district against 32-year incumbent Linda Minucci. She was endorsed by Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez and New York City Council Member Antonio Reynoso, but ultimately lost with 44.9% of the vote.

Gallagher was soon after appointed to Brooklyn Community Board 1, where she worked on transportation issues, the environment, and uncovering community board abuses. As a community board member, Gallagher learned that the City had provided grant funding for community engagement. After several months trying to trace the money, the Board Chair Gerald Esposito admitted that the $26,000 had been spent to buy a RAV-4 SUV to “To go different places,” She was then removed from the board the following year by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

On September 23, 2019, Gallagher launched a campaign against incumbent Joe Lentol for the Democratic primary to represent District 50 in the New York State Assembly. Gallagher ran on a platform of environmental sustainability, housing justice, and transit improvement, and received endorsements from New Kings Democrats, New York Communities for Change and the Brooklyn Young Democrats. A member of the Brooklyn Democratic Socialists of America, she sought their endorsement but did not receive it due to Brooklyn DSA's limited capacity and desire to focus on building power in working-class communities of color.

Gallagher's team had to quickly pivot in March 2020 when the COVID 19 epidemic necessitated a universal shut down. Their campaign pivoted to completely rely on phone banking, text banking, events on the video chat platform Zoom, and holding virtual fundraisers. Their campaign was run with 25-30 core volunteers.

On primary election night, June 23, 2020, Gallagher trailed Lentol by 1,763 votes based on in-person totals. Absentee ballots were more significant than usual, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and once they were counted, Gallagher was determined to have won by between 400-600 votes. In the final certified result, Gallagher won by 1,151 votes. On June 28, 2022, Gallagher won the Democratic primary with 79.5% of the votes over Paddy O'Sullivan.