Friday, October 16, 2026
Charlene Jackson has worked for and with politicians for decades, from Democratic New York City Mayor Ed Koch in the 1980s to the current Republican Nassau County executive, Bruce Blakeman. Now, Jackson says, she is prepared to represent the residents of Hempstead, Lakeview, Roosevelt and parts of Freeport and Uniondale — the 18th Assembly District — in Albany.
The 60-year-old Republican has worked in community assistance, research, education, criminal defense and consulting and now serves as special counsel for the county assessor’s office. Jackson said she now sees a need for her to serve local communities in the political realm.
“I was raised in a minority community and made a commitment to help uplift those communities,” she said. “Oftentimes what I see is that our communities are not making real choices when it comes to elections. We’d get candidates, but they wouldn’t necessarily be good candidates. And if they had a ‘D’ behind their name,” she added, referring to Democrats, “our communities, unfortunately, just press ‘D’ all the way. And so I’m challenging that.”
Jackson said she has been a proud Republican since she was in college during the Reagan administration, and that she believes she shares “core values” with minority communities that should appeal to voters. Her extensive bureaucratic experience, she said, has given her an understanding of government that will help her improve constituents’ lives.
“I understand how resources flow from the federal government to the state to the county to the villages, townships, et cetera, and how we can … get a lot of resources based upon the demographics of the minority community,” Jackson said.
Her priorities include small-business development, providing additional funding for school districts and addressing the rising cost of utilities across Long Island. “We shouldn’t have monopolies on our utilities if they’re charging us anything and everything, and we have no control over that,” she said. “We really have to take a close look at that, to see where there are economies of scale and where we can make it more affordable.”
Jackson expressed her opposition to what she called “unfunded mandates” from the Democratic state leadership that she said do not take into account the unique needs of some communities. She specifically called for community-by-community evaluation of taxation and housing policies.
“We value the independent nature of our communities,” Jackson said. “We value the ability to be able to control and make decisions for our community. We don’t want stuff shoved down our throats.”
Another initiative she said she is interested in developing in the Assembly is additional programs for students to explore a range of career opportunities, making training, internships and jobs more accessible to graduates of public schools. This can be done, she said, through grant writing, with which she has a great deal of experience, and using private funding to keep property taxes low.
Jackson pledged to bring the “educational background, practical experience and proof of delivery” to district representation that she said her opponent, incumbent Noah Burroughs, cannot. She has criticized his introduction of legislation that she claims is more self-beneficial than community-oriented, like a now-defeated bill that would have reduced penalties for failure to pay child support.
“I’m a community person,” she said. “This is not about Charlene. It’s about how I can be of service to my community.”
