Justice Democrats-backed candidate drops NY primary bid after redistricting

Rana Abdelhamid, a Justice Democrats-backed candidate, suspended her bid for New York’s 12th Congressional District, citing the state’s newly drawn House map.

“Today, I am formally ending my bid for Congress after the court’s undemocratic map removed me and my community from #NY12,” Abdelhamid wrote in a statement. 

Abdelhamid, a millennial Muslim activist, was challenging Rep. Carolyn Maloney (N.Y.), the latest in a series of Democratic primaries by progressives seeking to oust moderates from their House seats.

After a messy redistricting process that concluded last week, the 12th District does not count Queens, where Abdelhamid resides, within its borders and now represents only Manhattan. At the same time, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) also announced he would run in the district.

“The new NY-12, which was drawn through an undemocratic process, no longer includes Queens or Brooklyn,” she wrote. “That means that my home and my community, which includes working class, Black and brown, Muslim and Arab immigrant communities of interest in Queens, were all divided into two districts, NY-07 and NY-17, diluting our opportunity for representation and political power.”

While Abdelhamid’s candidacy will not notch a win for the left in Congress this cycle, she vowed her path in politics is not finished.

“This is not the end,” she wrote. “See you soon NYC.”