GOP’s Lester Chang ‘ready to fight’ for seat upon swearing-in as Dems target his residency
ALBANY — Republican Lester Chang was sworn in Tuesday as a member of the New York Assembly despite ongoing residency concerns that could give the Democratic supermajority the pretext they need to block him from taking the Brooklyn seat he won weeks ago.
“I’m confident. I’m duly elected by the people, supported by the people so that’s my strength. That’s where it comes from,” Chang told reporters after the Albany ceremony alongside other incoming GOP members while expressing optimism that the courts would allow him to serve if Democrats do not.
“We have other tools. We have the court system,” he said while noting he could also run in a special election that Gov. Kathy Hochul could call sometime later this year if he were removed from office.
“I’m ready to fight,” he added.
Chang defied the odds to beat longtime Democratic Assemblyman Peter Abbate 48.6% to 47.49% to win the Nov. 8 election to represent Assembly District 49 in Southern Brooklyn covering parts of Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Bensonhurst.
But concerns grew after the election that he still legally lived in Manhattan where he voted last year and has run for office before.
An Assembly Judiciary Committee report released on Dec. 31 details how Chang supposedly fell short of meeting residency requirements needed to take office despite evidence supporting his claim that he moved from Manhattan to Brooklyn in time to run for the seat in 2022.
Chang was effectively a “visitor” to Brooklyn despite some evidence pointing to him maintaining legal residency in Kings County, Stanley Schlein, a Bronx-based lawyer with longtime ties to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, said in the 156-page document.
Democrats discussed the matter at length Tuesday afternoon in anticipation of a Wednesday vote where a majority of members could oust Chang just four days into his term.
As of Tuesday afternoon, it remained unclear whether at least 76 Democrats are in favor of making Chang, a naval veteran, the first Assembly member in a century to not be seated in the lower chamber of the state Legislature.
“Lester Chang was elected and by operation of law the term began on Jan. 1. However the Legislature will be formally organized tomorrow and that body will consider his qualifications to serve,” Heastie spokesman Michael Whyland said Tuesday.
Republicans appear united in opposing any effort to remove Chang.
Some of their colleagues cross the aisle say the biggest question facing their Assembly supermajority is whether Democrats want to deal with the political blowback of blocking him.
An historically large chunk of Asian Americans turned towards Republicans in the November election amid rising crime and concerns that Democratic leaders were not taking anti-Asian violence seriously enough.
“This should have been dealt with before the election. We shouldn’t overturn an election or disenfranchise Asian voters,” a Democratic Assembly member told The Post. “We keep wondering why we lose elections in New York.”
Chang deflected a question from The Post Tuesday about whether he thinks anti-Asian animus might be driving the effort to remove him from office while adding that Asian Americans could mobilize like never before if Democrats end up ousting him Wednesday.
“I really hope it’s not. But if it is then my community – my Asian community – throughout the whole state and United States will address those issues,” he said. “Let’s see what [Democrats] have to say.”
