Joshua James Taveras, a Democrat, is challenging Republican Jarett Gandolfo for the New York State Senate’s 8th District seat, which is currently held by Sen. Alexis Weik, who is not seeking re-election.
The district includes portions of the towns of Babylon and Islip, as well as parts of the towns of Oyster Bay and Hempstead.
Taveras, 26, who describes himself as Afro-Latino and a member of the LGBTQ community, said he is running as an advocate for residents he believes are not adequately represented.
“On Long Island and in New York with the politics we have here right now, District 8 has been a Republican seat and sadly for a lot of New Yorkers who live in District 8, they’re not being represented to the extent that they should be,” Taveras said.
He works as a store manager for BYLT, an apparel company, and said he comes from a working family.
“We need someone who actually knows the struggles that Long Islanders have endured, working full-time and paycheck to paycheck,” Taveras said.
If elected, he said his priorities would include affordability, education and health care.
Housing costs and property taxes are among his biggest concerns. Taveras said high costs are affecting both younger residents and seniors.
“What are we doing if we’re pricing out the next generation?” he said. “We are indirectly cutting them off from having any type of successful future on Long Island.”
Taveras said he would support legislation to help first-time homebuyers and would advocate for allowing homeowners to legally rent portions of their properties, such as basements or upper floors.
He also supports universal pre-K and said he would oppose charter schools, which he believes divert funding from public schools.
“I think we need to protect the education system as a whole here and make the system so strong that the other states want to copy it as well,” Taveras said.
He supports the state’s plan to expand universal pre-K by the 2028-29 school year and said investing in early childhood education would benefit both students and families. He also said he would support better wages and working conditions for pre-K teachers.
Health care is another major issue for Taveras, who said he would advocate for expanded access to health care and changes to what he described as a largely for-profit system.
“We need to knock down that system,” he said.
Taveras also said nurse-to-patient ratios should be more strictly enforced, arguing that nurses are being pushed to the brink.
He said his approach to public policy is focused on addressing long-term problems rather than temporary fixes.
“I’m always thinking ahead,” Taveras said. “They just want to fill a pothole, but we need to take off the whole road and lay a completely new one.”
Taveras grew up in Copiague and now lives in Massapequa. He speaks Portuguese and Spanish and said support from the LGBTQ community helped inspire him to seek public office.
In addition to his professional work, Taveras said he wants to remain active in the communities he hopes to represent.
Election Day is Nov. 3. The polls are open from 6 am. to 9 p.m.
