Lester Chang (Chinese: 鄭永佳) is an American businessman, naval reservist, and politician who represents the 49th district of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Ass ...

, which comprises part of

South Brooklyn South Brooklyn is a historic term for a section of the former City of Brooklyn – now the New York City borough of Brooklyn – encompassing what are now the Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Park Slope, Winds ...

. A Republican, he defeated longtime Democratic incumbent Peter J. Abbate Jr. in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Early life and education

Lester Chang was born on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

to parents from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. When he was 8 years old, his father died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

and the family moved to

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

before moving to

Midwood, Brooklyn Midwood is a neighborhood in the south-central part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded on the north by the Bay Ridge Branch tracks just above Avenue I and by the Brooklyn College campus of the City University of New York, ...

. Chang graduated from

Midwood High School Midwood High School is a high school located at 2839 Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn, New York City, administered by the New York City Department of Education. It has an enrollment of 3,938 students. Its H-shaped building, with six Ionic order, Ioni ...

, then

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the process of recording and processing information about economic entity, economic entities, such as businesses and corporations. Accounting measures the results of an organization's economic activit ...

and the

State University of New York Maritime College State University of New York Maritime College (SUNY Maritime College) is a public maritime college in the Bronx, New York City. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. Founded in 1874, the SUNY Maritime College was the fi ...

with a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

in international transportation.

Career

Chang previously worked in banking as well as international shipping logistics.

Naval Reserve

Chang is a retired member of the

United States Navy Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2004, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called reservists, are categorized as being in either the S ...

and current member of the

New York Naval Militia The New York Naval Militia is the naval militia of the state of New York, and is under the authority of the Governor of New York as Commander-In-Chief of the state's military forces. With the New York Guard, the New York Army National Guard and ...

. In the aftermath of

9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, he was assigned to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

and was deployed to

Bagram Bagram (; Pashto/) is a town and seat in Bagram District in Parwan Province of Afghanistan, about 60 kilometers north of the capital Kabul. It is the site of an ancient city located at the junction of the Ghorband and Panjshir Valley, near t ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

as a military analyst.

Political career

Chang first ran for office in the 2016 special election for the 65th Assembly district to succeed

Sheldon Silver Sheldon Silver (February 13, 1944 – January 24, 2022) was an American Democratic Party politician, attorney, and convicted felon from New York City who served as Speaker of the New York State Assembly from 1994 to 2015. A native of Manhattan' ...

following his resignation due to a corruption scandal. He was on the ballot for the Republican,

Reform Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...

Independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

, and 'Clean Up This Mess' party lines. He placed third behind Democrat Alice Cancel and

Working Families Party The Working Families Party (WFP) is a progressive minor political party in the United States, founded in New York in 1998. There are active chapters in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois ...

-endorsed

Yuh-Line Niou Yuh-Line Niou (; zh, t=牛毓琳, p=Niú Yùlín; born July 15, 1983) is an American politician who served as a member of the New York State Assembly for the 65th district. The Lower Manhattan district, which is heavily Democratic and over 40% ...

respectively. In 2020, he ran in the 26th State Senate district, losing to incumbent Democrat Brian Kavanagh. In 2022, Chang announced he would run against longtime Democratic incumbent Peter J. Abbate Jr. in the 49th Assembly district. The redrawn district is majority Asian-American and includes parts of the Southern Brooklyn communities of

Dyker Heights Dyker Heights is a predominantly residential neighborhood in the southwest corner of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. It is on a hill between Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Borough Park, and Gravesend Bay. The neighborhood is bounded by 7 ...

, Sunset Park, Borough Park and

Bensonhurst Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd ...

. In an upset attributed to Republican organizing in the traditionally Democratic-leaning Chinese community, Chang defeated Abatte.

Residency challenges

Following his election to the State Assembly, the

Brooklyn Democratic Party The Brooklyn Democratic Party, officially the Kings County Democratic County Committee, is the county committee of the Democratic Party in the New York City borough of Brooklyn (Kings County). It is the most local level of party governance in Ne ...

attempted to block Chang from being seated. Proponents claimed that Chang had been living in

and was therefore ineligible to have been elected under New York's one-year residency requirement for candidates. Chang claimed to have lived in Manhattan until 2019, when his late wife passed away, before moving back to Brooklyn; but records show he had voted in Manhattan in 2021 and previously ran for office there in 2016 and 2020. Critics of the move pointed out that his ballot petitions could have been challenged in court before the election, but Democrats waited until after he had already won. An investigation organized by

Speaker Speaker most commonly refers to: * Speaker, a person who produces speech * Loudspeaker, a device that produces sound ** Computer speakers Speaker, Speakers, or The Speaker may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * "Speaker" (song), by David ...

Carl Heastie Carl Edward Heastie (; born September 25, 1967) is an American politician from New York. Heastie has served in the New York State Assembly since January 2001, and was elected Speaker of the New York State Assembly on February 3, 2015. Early l ...

concluded that Chang did own an apartment in Manhattan, but he fulfilled the residency requirements to run in the district. The '' Daily News'' editorial board published an article in support of Chang taking his Assembly seat, noting hypocrisy from Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair

Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn (born December 2, 1972) is an American politician who serves as the Assembly Member for the 42nd District of the New York State Assembly. She is a Democratic Party (United States), Democrat. The district includes portion ...

and Heastie.

Personal life

Chang lives in his childhood home in

Bensonhurst, Brooklyn Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd ...

. He has spoken about receiving mental health treatment for

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster, traffic collision, ...

, the death of his wife from cancer in 2019, and aiding his 95-year-old mother who suffers from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

Electoral history

2022

2020

2016

References

External links

Lester Chang
at the

Campaign website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chang, Lester American politicians of Chinese descent Asian-American state legislators in New York (state) Asian conservatism in the United States Brooklyn College alumni Candidates in the 2016 United States elections Candidates in the 2020 United States elections Living people New York (state) Republicans People from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn Politicians from Brooklyn Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly State University of New York Maritime College alumni United States Navy reservists Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century members of the New York State Legislature