VoterLens
New York State Assembly District 65
New York University—MSW
Data last updated 10/19/2026
Illapa Sairitupac is a social worker, tenant organizer, and anti-ICE activist running for New York State Assembly District 65. His campaign biography says he is the son of Peruvian immigrants, moved to the Bowery nearly a decade ago, worked as a dog walker and assistant teacher, then became a social worker helping community members with poverty, addiction, and mental health. Citizens Union describes him as a social worker and housing organizer making his second run for the seat after finishing second in the 2022 Democratic primary.
Committee Assignments: No committee assignments available.
Illapa Sairitupac supports universal healthcare, including passage of the New York Health Act, and frames healthcare as a state obligation for all New Yorkers regardless of employment, citizenship status, pre-existing conditions, or ability to pay. His healthcare platform also supports safe staffing, keeping public hospitals open and well-funded, fair pay for home care workers, abolishing medical debt, and protecting trans healthcare access and patient privacy.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Sairitupac says he would champion the New York Health Act to provide comprehensive healthcare free at the point of service for New York State residents and retirees.
SourceBranch’s candidate profile for Sairitupac in New York Assembly District 65 reports that he supports universal healthcare, plans to pass the New York Health Act, and supports free and easily accessible contraceptives and abortion services.
SourceSairitupac supports the Fair Pay for Home Care Act to require fair pay and working conditions for care workers.
SourceGay City News reported that Sairitupac believes the healthcare system would better serve people if lawmakers pass the New York Health Act, a single-payer system, and quoted him saying healthcare access should not depend on a person’s employer.
SourceIllapa Sairitupac’s Economy & Jobs positions emphasize lowering costs for working people, expanding public investment, supporting small and legacy businesses, and creating union jobs through public renewable energy and green-school investments. He also supports public banking and stronger protections for workers, tenants, street vendors, and formerly incarcerated people seeking employment.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Sairitupac says he will work to secure full funding for decarbonizing and retrofitting New York City public schools, describing green-school investments as a way to reduce emissions and create good union jobs.
SourceBranch.vote reports that Sairitupac supports establishing public banking in New York to democratize credit, consider social costs of investment, and empower everyday people.
SourceIn a ThinkChinatown candidate guide for Assembly District 65, Sairitupac said he would use his office to advocate for street vendors and fight for state-level infrastructure funding, working with groups such as the Street Vendor Project.
SourceIn the ThinkChinatown guide, Sairitupac said he believes commercial rent stabilization is the most robust solution for small businesses, while remaining open to rent vouchers for legacy businesses.
SourceIllapa Sairitupac supports stronger state protections for immigrant New Yorkers, especially measures limiting ICE collaboration and expanding access to public programs. His campaign frames him as an anti-ICE organizer running for New York State Assembly District 65 and says he would pass the New York for All Act and make his district office a resource hub for immigrants facing detention.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Sairitupac says he would solidify protections against local and state law-enforcement collaboration with ICE by passing the New York for All Act.
SourceSairitupac's campaign states that New York must protect neighbors from ICE, pass New York for All, and let immigrants live vibrant lives while contributing to the community.
SourceSairitupac's platform says he will only support candidates for federal office who are committed to the full abolition of ICE.
SourceIn a PoliticsNY Q&A for his AD-65 campaign, Sairitupac listed protecting neighbors from an out-of-control federal government, especially ICE, as one of his top three issues.
SourceIllapa Sairitupac supports an ecosocialist/public-power approach to climate and energy, emphasizing publicly owned renewable energy, public ownership of utilities such as ConEd, and reduced dependence on fossil fuels and fracking. He has framed climate change as especially urgent for Lower Manhattan/Assembly District 65 because of flood and sea-level-rise risks.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Sairitupac authored an op-ed arguing that New York should use public renewable energy as a key tool to address the climate crisis.
SourceSairitupac supports moving ConEd into public ownership as part of his public-power energy platform.
SourceFood & Water Action described Sairitupac as a longtime activist fighting fossil-fuel infrastructure who ran in Assembly District 65 to support Public Power and a Gas-Free New York.
SourceSairitupac’s official campaign site states that the campaign takes no fossil-fuel money, no real-estate money, and no corporate money.
SourceIllapa Sairitupac supports taxing the wealthy to fund education-adjacent family services, especially free universal childcare. He has also supported making CUNY tuition-free and expanding supports for college students facing food and housing insecurity.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Sairitupac lists taxing the rich to pay for services such as universal childcare among his top campaign goals for New York State Assembly District 65.
SourceSairitupac's campaign platform says he will tax the rich to fund services working-class families need, including free universal childcare.
SourceA 2026 candidate profile reports that Sairitupac supports eliminating tuition fees at all City Universities and increasing professors, counselors, and faculty.
SourceA 2026 candidate profile reports that Sairitupac supports policy interventions such as increased subsidies and expanded Pell Grants to address college student food and housing insecurity.
SourceUAW Region 9A endorsed Sairitupac and named universal childcare among the Albany priorities it expected endorsed candidates to work to secure.
SourceIllapa Sairitupac frames public safety as community safety rooted in housing, healthcare, childcare, jobs, mental-health response, and decarceration rather than surveillance, policing, and incarceration. His stated positions include support for non-police mental-health crisis response, investments addressing root causes of crime, stronger police oversight, ending qualified immunity, protecting/expanding the HALT Act, and overdose prevention centers.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Sairitupac supports Mayor Mamdani’s vision of a Department of Community Safety and says most mental-health responses should be handled by trained mental-health workers without police involvement.
SourceSairitupac says he will advance investments in programs addressing root causes of crime and get police out of homeless outreach and other social service areas.
SourceSairitupac says he will strengthen the Civilian Complaint Review Board by expanding its oversight powers and authority, referencing S4354/A126.
SourceSairitupac supports ending qualified immunity, arguing it shields officers who knowingly endanger the public from accountability.
SourceSairitupac supports establishing more overdose prevention centers as a public-safety and harm-reduction response to overdose deaths.
SourceCitizens Union
https://citizensunion.org/voters-guide/2026-primary-election/assembly-district-65/Fetched: biography, education, background
Transparency USA - Illapa Sairitupac New York Candidate
https://www.transparencyusa.org/ny/candidate/illapa-sairitupacFetched: votingRecord, campaignFinance
Transparency USA - New York State Assembly District 65 Election
https://www.transparencyusa.org/ny/race/new-york-state-assembly-district-65-74621Fetched: campaignFinance
Blue Voter Guide
https://bluevoterguide.org/NY/candidate_Illapa_Sairitupac/342965Fetched: endorsements
NYC Democratic Socialists of America
https://socialists.nyc/press-releases/nyc-dsa-endorses-illapa-sairitupac-for-state-assembly-district-65/Fetched: endorsements
CAIR Action
https://cairaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/NY-Voter-Guide.pdfFetched: endorsements
Branch
https://www.branch.vote/races/2026-new-york-primary-election-ny-state-state-representative-ny-state-house-65-d/candidates/illapa-sairitupacFetched: issuePositions
Gay City News
https://gaycitynews.com/illapa-sairitupac-looks-to-carry-activism-background-to-albany/Fetched: issuePositions
Branch.vote
https://www.branch.vote/races/2026-new-york-primary-election-ny-state-state-representative-ny-state-house-65-d/candidates/illapa-sairitupacFetched: issuePositions
PoliticsNY
https://politicsny.com/2026/05/20/campaign-insiders-a-qa-with-ad-65-candidate-illapa-sairitupac/Fetched: issuePositions
Democratic Left
https://democraticleft.dsausa.org/2026/06/10/illapa-sairitupac-puts-socialism-back-on-the-ballot-for-the-lower-east-side/Fetched: issuePositions
QOSHE / NY Daily News
https://qoshe.com/ny-daily-news/illapa-sairitupac/use-public-power-to-curb-climate-change/189231447Fetched: issuePositions
Food & Water Action
https://www.foodandwateraction.org/climate/how-were-changing-the-game-on-climate-from-inside-nys-assembly/Fetched: issuePositions
Citizens Union questionnaire for Illapa Sairitupac
https://citizensunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/ISairitupac_Questionnaire.pdfFetched: issuePositions
Branch candidate profile for Illapa Sairitupac
https://www.branch.vote/races/2026-new-york-general-election-ny-state-state-representative-ny-state-house-65/candidates/illapa-sairitupacFetched: issuePositions
UAW Region 9A NYC CAP 2026 endorsements
https://region9a.uaw.org/news/NYCEndorsements826Fetched: issuePositions