Quick Facts
Biography
Stacey Pheffer Amato is the Assembly member for the 23rd District of the New York State Assembly. She is a Democrat. The district includes portions of the neighborhoods of Jamaica, Richmond Hill, The Rockaways, Springfield Gardens, and Woodhaven in Queens.
Life and career
Pheffer Amato was born and raised on the Rockaways and graduated from SUNY Oneonta in upstate New York. She has worked as an education paraprofessional for the NYC Department of Education and as a procurement analyst for the Fire Department New York and the NYC Sanitation Department. She also has served as a committee member of the NY Rising Community Reconstruction Program, formed after Hurricane Sandy devastated her community.
She formerly served as the female Democratic District Leader for the 23rd District. Her mother, Audrey Pheffer, held the same seat from 1987 to 2011. Her mother now serves as Queens County Clerk. They are the first mother-daughter duo to hold the same seat in the New York Assembly. She owns Elegante Restaurant & Pizzeria with her husband, Frank Amato. A mother of two, she resides in the Rockaways.
New York State Assembly
In 2016, Assemblymember Phillip Goldfeder announced abruptly that he would retire. Pheffer Amato, whose mother held the seat for more than two decades, announced soon after that she would seek the Democratic nomination. With support from the Queens County Democratic Party, she was unopposed in the primary.
She easily defeated Republican Alan N. Zwim in the 2016 general election, 68% to 32% to take the seat. She was sworn in on January 1, 2017.