Jenifer Rajkumar


Jenifer Rajkumar is an American politician, community leader and human rights lawyer. Rajkumar is a Democrat in New York City, and the party's nominee for the 38th District of New York State Assembly.

Early life and education

Rajkumar was born and raised in New York. She is the daughter of immigrants from India who came to the United States with just $300 and a suitcase, first settling in Queens.
Rajkumar is a graduate of Stanford Law School with pro bono distinction and the University of Pennsylvania, magna cum laude, and graduated as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. At Penn, she received the Alice Paul Award for exceptional community service to women and families.

Career

2011 District Leader race

In 2011, Rajkumar became the first Indian-American elected as the District Leader of the 65th District of the New York State Assembly, beating out a 28-year incumbent with over 70% of the vote. She has since been re-elected to that office two more times, in 2013 and 2015. As district leader, Rajkumar led the effort to bring M9 bus service back to Battery Park City and has worked closely with Democracy for Battery Park City, an organisation which seeks representation for residents of the neighborhood on the board of the Battery Park City Authority.

2013 City Council race

In 2013, Rajkumar ran for the New York City Council in the Democratic primary in New York City's first Council district, losing to incumbent Margaret Chin. Rajkumar won 41.5% of the vote. Rajkumar’s campaign championed affordable housing and community-friendly development. She was endorsed by various organizations and unions, such as The Sierra Club, and local Allied Craftworkers and Ironworkers groups.

2016 State Assembly race

She ran for the New York State Assembly in the 65th District, as the seat was occupied by Alice Cancel, who won a special election on April 19, 2016, to replace Sheldon Silver, who was convicted of corruption and expelled from the Assembly in 2015.
Rajkumar finished second in a six-way Democratic primary, the winner, Yuh-Line Niou, went on to win in the general election in November.

New York State government

On February 6, 2017, Governor Andrew Cuomo appointed Rajkumar as the Director of Immigration Affairs and Special Counsel for the New York Department of State. Rajkumar also served as a state-wide surrogate for Governor Cuomo.

2020 State Assembly race

Rajkumar ran in the primary for the 38th New York State Assembly District in Queens, which includes portions of the Glendale, Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Ridgewood, and Woodhaven neighborhoods, against incumbent Democrat Michael G. Miller and challenger Joey De Jesus. Following Congressman Ro Khanna's endorsement of Rajkumar in February 2020, the campaign received backlash for its right-leaning political stance, especially concerning anti-homeless policies she had proposed, which conflict with Khanna's views. In May 2020, City & State criticized Rajkumar alongside a slate of other candidates for carpetbagging across multiple primaries and elections.
In July 2020, her campaign announced victory in the primary and she is the nominee for the general election in November.