VoterLens
Columbia University—B.A.; Fordham Law School—J.D.
Data last updated 10/27/2026
Karen Ortiz is an attorney and former U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission administrative judge. Her professional background includes roles with MTA New York City Transit as Legal Director, the Social Security Administration as Assistant Regional Counsel, NYC Parks & Recreation as an agency attorney, and NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission/NYC Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings as an administrative law judge. She began her legal career while an undergraduate at Columbia University, working as an assistant to criminal defense attorney Barry Slotnick.
Committee Assignments: No committee assignments available.
Karen Ortiz frames healthcare as a human right and supports Medicare for All. Her platform says coverage should be broad, including gender-affirming care, abortion access, fertility treatments, vaccinations, dental care, and protection for provider-patient decision-making without employment-based coverage requirements.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Ortiz says she will fight for Medicare for All to ensure everyone has access to affordable, quality healthcare.
SourceOrtiz argues healthcare should not be tied to employment as part of her Medicare for All platform.
SourceOrtiz supports Medicare for All coverage that includes abortion without oppressive restrictions and says politicians should not interfere with personal healthcare decisions.
SourceOrtiz supports including gender-affirming healthcare in universal healthcare coverage.
SourceIn a Patch candidate Q&A, Ortiz said Medicare for All would eliminate medical debt and connected that goal to affordability for New Yorkers.
SourceKaren Ortiz’s Economy & Jobs-related platform centers on redirecting federal resources away from military spending and toward domestic needs, while presenting her campaign as grassroots-funded rather than reliant on corporate interests. She does not appear to publish a standalone jobs, taxes, wages, or trade platform in the sources found.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Ortiz supports drastically reducing military spending and redirecting money spent on "bombs and bullets" toward taking care of Americans at home.
SourceOrtiz supports redirecting military spending to domestic needs as part of a broader platform to reduce the U.S. military's global footprint.
SourceOrtiz says her campaign does not rely on corporate interests and is funded by grassroots donations, reflecting an anti-corporate-interest stance in campaign finance.
SourceKaren Ortiz takes a strongly pro-immigrant, due-process-focused stance, calling for ICE to be abolished and for immigration enforcement to be replaced with a more humane system. She also supports legal protections for non-citizens and greater autonomy for immigration judges.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Ortiz says ICE cannot be rehabilitated and must be dismantled and abolished.
SourceIn a Patch candidate Q&A, Ortiz said ICE should be abolished, DHS should be defunded, and the country should return to a system like the former Immigration and Naturalization Service that centers due process and humane treatment.
SourceOrtiz states that civil rights must be codified and enforced, including protections for non-citizens.
SourceOrtiz supports giving immigration judges more autonomy to make decisions without fear of retribution from any administration.
SourceA voter information profile summarizes Ortiz's platform as calling for the abolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
SourceKaren Ortiz frames climate and energy primarily through anti-militarism and decarbonization, arguing that the U.S. military’s emissions and global footprint should be reduced to support a safer, more sustainable world. Publicly available materials also identify divesting from fossil fuels as one of her priorities, but her campaign site does not appear to provide a broader standalone climate or energy plan.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Ortiz’s campaign says the U.S. military is the world’s biggest polluter and supports drastically reducing its global footprint to create a safer, more sustainable world while redirecting military spending to domestic needs.
SourceA Courage for Democracy candidate profile lists divesting from fossil fuels among Ortiz’s campaign priorities.
SourceKaren Ortiz has not published a comprehensive federal K–12 or higher-education platform in the materials reviewed. Her available education-related statements focus on higher-education campus governance and protest response, including support for student leadership/dialogue and opposition to bringing NYPD onto Columbia’s campus during the encampment.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Ortiz criticized Columbia University leadership for not letting students lead and said administrators should have met with students rather than fear hearing from them during campus conflict.
SourceOrtiz opposed bringing the NYPD onto Columbia University’s campus during the encampment, saying that doing so made the situation worse.
SourceKaren Ortiz frames public safety around constitutional accountability, due process, civil-rights enforcement, and reducing militarized approaches to security. Her campaign supports abolishing ICE, protecting detainees and marginalized groups from government abuse, and redirecting military spending toward domestic needs.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Ortiz says ICE cannot be rehabilitated and must be dismantled and abolished because of alleged due-process failures, custody deaths, and impunity by agents.
SourceOrtiz states that everyone must receive constitutional due process and criticizes masked immigration agents and detention practices that she says violate detainees' rights.
SourceOrtiz says she would introduce legislation to fully protect the rights of LGBTQIA+ people, homeless people, incarcerated people, and non-citizens.
SourceOrtiz argues that no one is above the law and pledges to introduce articles of impeachment against Donald Trump on her first day if elected.
SourceOrtiz says the U.S. military budget is bloated and that money spent on bombs and bullets should be redirected to taking care of Americans at home.
SourcePatch
https://patch.com/new-york/upper-east-side-nyc/election-q-meet-ny-12-candidate-karen-ortizFetched: biography, location, education
NYC Votes
https://bengali.nycvotes.org/whats-on-the-ballot/2026-general-election-voter-guide/representative-in-congress/profile/?bannerTitle=Karen+Ortiz&boroughCode=&candidateId=V1771&districtID=&electionCycle=2026&geoAreaAbbr=12&officeType=10&officelevel=3&partyId=OTHFetched: biography, education
VOTE411
https://onyourballot.vote411.org/candidate-detail.do?id=73188942Fetched: biography, education
FEC API
https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/candidate/H6NY12297/totals/Fetched: totalRaised, totalSpent, cashOnHand
FEC
https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/H6NY12297/?cycle=2026&election_full=trueFetched: campaignFinance
VOTE411 Voter Guide
https://onyourballot.vote411.org/candidate-detail.do?id=73188942Fetched: endorsements
Branch
https://branch.vote/races/2026-new-york-general-election-ny-state-us-representative-ny-congressional-12/candidates/karen-ortizFetched: issuePositions
Patch
https://new.patch.com/new-york/upper-east-side-nyc/election-q-meet-ny-12-candidate-karen-ortizFetched: issuePositions
Patch
https://patch.com/new-york/upper-east-side-nyc/amp/35076358/election-q-a-meet-ny-12-candidate-karen-ortizFetched: issuePositions
West Side Rag
https://www.westsiderag.com/2026/03/12/meet-karen-ortiz-an-independent-candidate-running-to-represent-the-uws-in-congressFetched: issuePositions