Jenifer Rajkumar

Jenifer Rajkumar (born September 1, 1982) is an American politician and civil rights lawyer serving as a member of the New York State Assembly from the 38th district. A Democrat, she represents the Queens neighborhoods of Glendale, Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Ridgewood, and Woodhaven.

She is the first Indian-American woman ever elected to a New York State office. Rajkumar is known as the “Lady in Red” for her frequent public appearances in red attire. In January 2025, Rajkumar announced her campaign for New York City Public Advocate calling for a "complete overhaul of city government" and "a new brand of public service". Rajkumar was known as one of Mayor Eric Adams' closest allies in the New York State Legislature, but she declined to endorse him for re-election. Rajkumar lost renomination by 18% points to NYC-DSA-endorsed attorney David Orkin in the 2026 election. Her parents are doctors who immigrated from India and first settled in Queens. She is a graduate of Hackley School. Rajkumar earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School. She is of Punjabi descent.

Career Rajkumar previously practiced law as an attorney and worked as an adjunct professor of political science at CUNY's Lehman College in the Bronx. In 2014, Rajkumar was accused of engaging in "gross plagiarism" by Newman Ferrara LLP in a tenant's rights case, but the motion for disqualification was withdrawn after an agreement between the firm and Sanford Heisler, where Rajkumar served as of counsel.

On February 6, 2017, Governor Andrew Cuomo appointed Rajkumar as the Director of Immigration Affairs and Special Counsel for the New York Department of State.

In 2020, Rajkumar became the first Indian-American woman ever elected to the New York State Legislature as a member of the New York State Assembly from the 38th district, representing the Queens neighborhoods of Glendale, Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Ridgewood, and Woodhaven.

In December 2021, mayor-elect Eric Adams appointed Rajkumar as a senior advisor on his transition team.

New York State Assembly tenure Rajkumar led and won passage of her bill establishing Diwali as a school holiday in New York City Public Schools.

In her first term, Rajkumar passed a legislative package for domestic workers, securing them the full protections of the state human rights law, and expanding their paid family leave benefits. Governor Kathy Hochul signed Rajkumar's legislative package into law in December 2021.

Rajkumar was appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly as the Chair of the Subcommittee on Diversity in Law. defeating 28-year incumbent Linda Belfer with over 70% of the vote. She was re-elected to that office two more times, in 2013 and 2015. As district leader, Rajkumar led the effort to bring M9 bus service back to Battery Park City in Lower Manhattan and has worked closely with Democracy for Battery Park City, an organization which seeks representation for residents of the neighborhood on the board of the Battery Park City Authority.

2013 City Council race In 2013, Rajkumar ran for the New York City Council in the Democratic primary in the 1st district in Lower Manhattan, losing to incumbent Margaret Chin. Rajkumar won 41.5% of the vote. Rajkumar's campaign championed affordable housing and community-friendly development. She was endorsed by various organizations and unions, such as The Sierra Club, and local Allied Craftworkers and Ironworkers groups.

2016 State Assembly race She ran for the New York State Assembly in the 65th District, as the seat was occupied by Alice Cancel, the winner of a special election on April 19, 2016, to replace Sheldon Silver, who was convicted of corruption and expelled from the Assembly in 2015. Rajkumar finished second in a six-way Democratic primary; the winner, Yuh-Line Niou, went on to win in the general election in November.

2020 State Assembly race Rajkumar ran in the primary for the 38th New York State Assembly district in Queens, which includes portions of the Glendale, Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Ridgewood, and Woodhaven neighborhoods, against incumbent Democrat Michael G. Miller and challenger Joey De Jesus. Rajkumar was endorsed by California Congressman Ro Khanna in February 2020. In May 2020, City & State criticized Rajkumar alongside a slate of other candidates for carpetbagging across multiple primaries and elections.

Rajkumar defeated Miller and De Jesus in the June 2020 Democratic primary and won over Giovanni Perna in the November general election.

2025 New York City Public Advocate campaign On August 12, 2024, Rajkumar announced her campaign for New York City Comptroller in 2025.

On April 24, Rajkumar posted a cartoon of herself contrasted with Williams, who was drawn asleep under a screenshot of a 2021 tweet posted by Williams replying to councilmember Joe Borelli about edibles; the meme was slammed as "racist" by political consultants and elected officials including Donovan Richards and Lincoln Restler, who said it perpetuated negative stereotypes of African Americans as drug addicts.

Writing for City and State in May, Sophie Krichevsky called the race "weird", describing Rajkumar as a long shot based on public polling showing a landslide victory for Williams and describing the race as "an out of the spotlight, lopsided and weirdly acrimonious race with plenty of mudslinging and millions in campaign cash".

Rajkumar and Williams participated in a debate on June 6 hosted by PIX11, where Rajkumar accused Williams of covering up an active investigation into a former staffer's accusation that she was drugged and assaulted by security detail in the Public Advocate's office and said he should "think about resigning".

In the June 24 Democratic primary election, Rajkumar was handily defeated by Williams; placing second with 18.7% of the vote according to unofficial election night results.

2026 State Assembly campaign In the 2026 election, Rajkumar faced a challenge from NYC-DSA-endorsed attorney David Orkin who was also backed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Claire Valdez among others. At the candidate filing deadline, numerous registered voters alleged that Rajkumar's campaign had falsified their signatures in her nomination petitions including an Orkin campaign volunteer and a Queens Chronicle editor. Orkin sued to have her disqualified from the ballot, alleging petition fraud, but the lawsuit was thrown out on procedural grounds by the Queens Supreme Court for not properly subpoenaing Rajkumar’s campaign workers associated with the fraud in April and an appeal was dismissed.

Her re-election campaign was endorsed by Gregory Meeks, John Liu, Carl Heastie, Sam Berger, Nily Rozic, Lynn Schulman, 32BJ SEIU, and the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council. A digital advertisement by the Working Families Party's associated super PAC attacked Rajkumar as "Modi's best friend in Queens" for her alleged ties to Hindutva activists and organizations.

Rajkumar was defeated by Orkin in the June 23, 2026, Democratic primary election by 18% points.

Electoral history DateElectionCandidatePartyVotes%New York City Council, District 1 September 10, 2013 Primary Margaret Chin (inc.) Democratic 8,84658.88% Jenifer Rajkumar Democratic 6,171 41.07% Write-ins 7 0.05%New York State Assembly, District 65 September 13, 2016 Primary Yuh-Line Niou Democratic 2,79031.42% Jenifer Rajkumar Democratic 1,701 19.16% Paul Newell Democratic 1,425 16.05% Alice Cancel (inc.) Democratic 1,108 12.48% Don Lee Democratic 995 11.20% Gigi Li Democratic 844 9.50% Write-ins 17 0.19%New York State Assembly, District 38 June 23, 2020 Primary Jenifer Rajkumar Democratic 3,81751.95% Michael G. Miller (inc.) Democratic 1,851 25.19% Joseph de Jesus Democratic 1,668 22.70% Write-ins 12 0.16% November 3, 2020 General Jenifer Rajkumar Democratic 25,23272.61% Giovanni Perna R/C/Save Our City 9,44327.17% Write-ins 77 0.22% November 8, 2022 General Jenifer Rajkumar (inc.) Democratic 11,66297.82% Write-ins 260 2.18% November 3, 2024 General Jenifer Rajkumar (inc.) Democratic 22,71897.77% Write-ins 519 2.23%New York City Public Advocate June 24, 2025 Primary Jumaane Williams (inc.) Democratic 681,605 71.2% Jenifer Rajkumar Democratic 179,439 18.8% Marty Dolan Democratic 89,841 9.4% Write-ins 5,983 0.6%New York State Assembly, District 38 June 23, 2026 Primary David Orkin Democratic3,72258.02% Jenifer Rajkumar (inc.) Democratic 2,588 40.34% Write-ins / Blank / Void %

Personal life Rajkumar is a practicing Hindu.