Claire Cousin
Claire Cousin (Working Families Party, Democratic Party) is running for election to the New York State Assembly to represent District 106. She is on the ballot in the general election on November 5, 2024. She lost in the Democratic primary on June 25, 2024. The Working Families Party primary for this office on June 25, 2024, was canceled.
Cousin completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Claire Cousin was born in Hudson, New York. Her career experience includes working as a community organizer.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: New York State Assembly elections, 2024
General election
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
General election for New York State Assembly District 106
Incumbent Didi Barrett, Stephan Krakower, and Claire Cousin are running in the general election for New York State Assembly District 106 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | ||
 | Didi Barrett (D) | |
 | Stephan Krakower (R / Conservative Party) | |
 | Claire Cousin (Working Families Party)  | |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for New York State Assembly District 106
Incumbent Didi Barrett defeated Claire Cousin in the Democratic primary for New York State Assembly District 106 on June 25, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Didi Barrett | 57.1 | 4,732 |
| Claire Cousin | 42.8 | 3,546 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 3 | ||
| Total votes: 8,281 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Stephan Krakower advanced from the Republican primary for New York State Assembly District 106.
Conservative Party primary election
The Conservative Party primary election was canceled. Stephan Krakower advanced from the Conservative Party primary for New York State Assembly District 106.
Working Families Party primary election
The Working Families Party primary election was canceled. Claire Cousin advanced from the Working Families Party primary for New York State Assembly District 106.
Campaign finance
Endorsements
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Campaign themes
2024
Video for Ballotpedia
| Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released February 12, 2024 |
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Claire Cousin completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Cousin's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I’m a third-generation Hudson mom, co-founder of the Hudson/Catskill Housing Coalition, and the first Black woman elected to the Columbia County Board of Supervisors. I’m running for State Assembly to fight for Hudson Valley families like mine.
I grew up as a working-class kid in Greenport, outside of Hudson. When I was seventeen years old, I became a single mom. I had to drop out of high school, spent 3 years on a waitlist to get into public housing, and in the years since have worked many odd jobs to keep my home.
I took work anywhere I could find it, from afterschool programs to domestic violence services to home healthcare agencies. In my “free time”, I earned my GED and an AmeriCorps fellowship, but struggled to attend community college. The responsibilities and costs of raising a family were just too much.
Everything changed when in 2013, I attended a Hudson Common Council meeting. I joined many of my neighbors and spoke out against reducing basketball court hours for teenagers. I’m now in my second term on the Columbia County Board of Supervisors.
I’ve lived in the district my entire life, but it’s becoming more unaffordable to live here. Housing costs are skyrocketing, we’re being overcharged by our private utility companies, and our wages aren’t keeping up with inflation.
We need leaders who will fight for our neighbors, not corporations and billionaires. I’m running for Assembly to give voters a choice about what kind of Democrat we want representing us.
- Affordability With each year that passes, life becomes more unaffordable in the Hudson Valley. Housing prices, utility bills, and costs of living keep going up while our wages fail to keep pace with inflation. Meanwhile, corporate landlords, for-profit utility companies, and greedy billionaires continue to increase their profits. As a single teen mom, I struggled to raise my family while affording rent, bills, groceries, and other essentials. Like so many others, I was failed by a system that puts profit over people. I believe everyone deserves to live in the Hudson Valley. That’s why I’m fighting to: - Raise the minimum wage to match inflation. - Create a single-payer healthcare system. - Pass Fair Pay for Home Care.
- Climate The Hudson Valley is at the forefront of the climate crisis. Whether it’s orange skies of wildfire smoke, catastrophic flooding, or ever-increasing utility bills, we are the ones paying the price for the fossil fuel industry’s greed. I believe in a Green New Deal for the Hudson Valley: - Reduce utility bills. The NY Home Energy Affordable Transition Act would help working-class families afford their power. - Hold polluters accountable. The Climate Change Superfund Act would require polluters to pay for their contributions to the climate crisis. - Ban new fossil fuel infrastructure. - Build more renewable energy. - Bring utilities under public control. - Create new green union jobs and to build publicly owned renewable energy.
- Housing The Hudson Valley is in a housing crisis. That’s because corporate developers and landlords are driving up rents and home prices, making it near-impossible to find an affordable place to live. Housing is a human right. Everyone—whether they own or rent their home—should be able to afford to live in the Hudson Valley: - Pass strong tenant protections. The Good Cause Eviction bill would help keep people in their homes by banning evictions and large rent increases without a “good cause.” - Defend homeowners. Increasing the STAR credit and enhanced STAR credit would provide more tax relief for homeowners and streamline the application process to increase accessibility. - Build more truly affordable housing.
Education
I grew up as a student of the Hudson City School District. I attended public schools like John L. Edwards and the district’s Alternative Learning Program, housed in trailers behind Greenport School. One of my first advocacy efforts was to keep that program fully funded. Sadly, that program, John L. Edwards, and Greenport have been closed, with many other schools shuttered across the Hudson Valley due to budget cuts.
As a single teen mom, I struggled to attend SUNY Empire while putting food on the table for my family. I worked hard to earn my GED and begin my career as an educator, leading afterschool programs for the school district and running summer workshops as part of the Kite’s Nest Social Justice Leadership Academy.
It's important to be a candidate powered by and accountable to everyday people, not special interests.
Our latest fundraising numbers are out and I'm proud to share:
💸 We had 3x more in-district donations than our opponent (457 to 153)
💸 Our opponent’s average donation was 10x higher than ours ($59 to $643)
According to campaign finance filings released in late May, my opponent's contributors included several fossil fuel and private utility companies, the real estate and pharmaceutical industries, and members of the billionaire Rockefeller, Bloomberg, and Tisch families.
My campaign is funded by an average donation of $59 and public matching, with contributions coming from hundreds of in-district donors giving whatever they can. Meanwhile, my opponent is relying on a handful of wealthy donors and corporate PACs.
The difference between my opponent and I is clear from how we raise money: my opponent is funded by fossil fuel companies, real estate tycoons, venture capitalists, and billionaires. My campaign is being powered by everyday people who are ready for an Assembly member who will stop representing corporate interests and start representing theirs.
I grew up in a working-class family just outside Hudson. My mom worked as a speech pathologist, her family has roots in Hudson going back generations. My dad is a veteran who worked odd jobs and drove taxis for a living.
When I was a teenager, the school district closed my high school because of budget cuts. After my school closed, I dropped out, and soon after became a teen single mom. It took me three years on a waitlist to land a spot in Hudson public housing.
But I was still able to beat the odds. I earned my GED just two months after dropping out. And to put food on the table for my family, I worked countless odd jobs serving my neighbors: afterschool programs, home healthcare, domestic violence services, and more.
I know what Hudson Valley families going through because I’ve lived and worked here my whole life. This is my home, and my neighbors deserve to have one of their own representing them in the State Assembly.
When I was still a teenager, I became an active leader at the SBK Social Justice Center, a local organization dedicated to serving Hudson’s Black youth. During my time at the Center, I ran summer children’s workshops as part of the Kite’s Nest Social Justice Leadership Academy and started my own weekly youth program called Space 101. I also worked to keep children in our communities by winning local juvenile justice reforms and creating alternatives to incarceration for youth.
And in 2020, I helped transition SBK Social Justice Center into the Hudson/Catskill Housing Coalition, serving as its Executive Director to advocate for affordable, stable housing for all.
Today, I’m serving my second term on the Columbia County Board of Supervisors, as the first Black woman elected to the body.
For the Many, New York Working Families Party, The Jewish Vote, Teamsters Local 294, IATSE Local 311, Food & Water Action, Our Revolution, Run for Something, Tenants PAC, Caring Majority Rising, New York Progressive Action Network, Up Next NY, Catch Fire Movement, Lead Locally, HCHC Collective, Treeage, Citizen Action
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate New York State Assembly District 106 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 27, 2024
