Meet Grace
Grace Lee: Fighting and Delivering for Lower Manhattan
Grace Lee is a community organizer, daughter of immigrants, mother of three raising her family right here in Lower Manhattan, and a Democrat running for State Senate to deliver a more affordable, livable Lower Manhattan for you.
Grace is the current Assemblymember for District 65, representing Lower Manhattan, including the Lower East Side, Chinatown, SoHo, NoHo, Little Italy, and the Financial District. She is a daughter of immigrants, a mother of three, and a fighter for working families in Lower Manhattan.
Rooted in Community
Long before she went to Albany, Grace spent over a decade building her career in public service right here in Lower Manhattan. She is a co-founder of Children First, a parent-led coalition that successfully pushed for the safe cleanup of a mercury-contaminated brownfield site near the South Street Seaport, protecting school children and nearby families. She organized with Deaf tenants living in unsafe conditions on the Lower East Side, helping them build power, stand up to building management, and secure long-overdue repairs. In both cases, she didn’t just protest— she helped the community organize, and they won.
Those experiences shaped how Grace approaches every fight. She knows real change comes from building power with communities, listening closely, and delivering results — for real, lasting change.
Delivering in Albany
Grace took that same organizing approach to Albany, and it's at the heart of everything she’s accomplished for Lower Manhattan during her two terms in the State Assembly.
Grace knows that housing is the core affordability issue facing New Yorkers - and it's where she’s fought the hardest. When thousands of NYCHA and Section 8 families were at risk of eviction, Grace fought — even when people said it was impossible — and helped secure nearly $400 million in Emergency Rental Assistance Program funding to keep families in their homes. She helped pass Good Cause Eviction, securing long-overdue tenant protections against unreasonable rent increases and retaliatory evictions. For Mitchell-Lama residents struggling to meet operating needs and keep rents affordable, she secured a 50% property tax cut to stabilize developments and keep costs down. Grace has also introduced the Teardown Tax Act - legislation to stop developers from converting affordable housing into luxury mansions.
Housing
Protecting Vulnerable Communities
Grace has been on the front lines protecting the most vulnerable members of our community. This session, she co-sponsored and passed landmark legislation to protect our civil liberties against federal overreach and keep ICE out of our schools, hospitals, poll sites, and houses of worship. She strengthened New York's hate crimes laws for the first time in more than two decades, passing the Hate Crimes Modernization Act to better protect minority and LGBTQIA+ communities.
Grace knows that New Yorkers want a government that works and gets the basics done right. As an Assemblymember, she's used her time in Albany to bring results back to our communities. She secured over $90 million for community-based organizations serving our neighborhoods and delivered historic investments for the Asian American community. Grace also led the effort to make New York the first state in the country to recognize Lunar New Year as a statewide school holiday.
Grace is passionate about making a difference every single day, not just through big legislation, but through hands-on constituent services. She's cracked down on illegal cannabis stores and scaffolding and worked to get our parks cleaned, get trash off the street, and get graffiti removed - because quality of life matters just as much as the big fights. In just three years, Grace’s office has closed over 800 constituent cases. She has also welcomed more than 100 interns into her office, giving young people real opportunities to get involved in public service.
Government that Works
Grace has demonstrated the political courage to stand up to power when things get tough. She stood up to powerful corporations to protect workers and consumers, taking on social media companies, predatory lenders, and fighting to protect union jobs and bargaining rights. She publicly called out Columbia University's systemic failures that enabled abuse by former OBGYN Robert Hadden, pressuring the institution to notify former patients and launch an internal investigation. And she introduced the STOP Act to challenge Andrew Cuomo’s misuse of public funds and retraumatize survivors — even in the face of significant political pressure.
Standing Up to Special Interests
Why State Senate
For Grace, running for State Senate is about having more resources to scale the work and deliver for you. As State Senator, she will have a larger platform to fight for our communities, stand up to those in power, and hold them accountable.
Families in Lower Manhattan are being priced out of New York, immigrants are under attack, and healthcare is on the line. Now more than ever, we need leaders who are rooted in community, battle-tested, and ready to deliver big things. No one works harder to deliver for Lower Manhattan.
Vote Grace Lee for State Senate on June 23rd