Phara Souffrant Forrest, a 31-year-old nurse from Crown Heights, has declared victory over incumbent Walter Mosley in the 57th Assembly District election. Forrest, who learned of winning today while tending to a patient, told NY1 there won’t be much of a difference between her role as a nurse and her new role in Albany.
“In a way, it’s a career change in terms of the title,” she said. “But nurses, we assess, we intervene, we implement and we evaluate and that’s exactly what I’m going to do in Albany.”
On Primary Day, Forrest trailed behind Mosely by 588 votes, but after waiting on absentee ballot results for almost a month, the Board of Elections’ total put Forrest ahead of Mosley.
Assemblyman Mosley issued a statement Wednesday conceding to his progressive opponent.
“Throughout my time in the Assembly, I've been immensely proud of the work we've done to improve our city and state,” he said.
“It has been a privilege to represent the community I grew up in as a member of the Assembly, and I am confident that Ms. Souffrant Forrest will continue to be a strong voice for this district in Albany. I congratulate her on her victory, and look forward to working together to continue to improve our community.”
Forrest, who was backed by the Democratic Socialists of America and received endorsements from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, says she plans on working alongside anyone who is fighting for the same issues.
“My plan is to always stick to the issues. If you’re about making housing a bit more affordable for people, if you’re about making true changes to our health care, our broken health care system, I’m all about collaborating with as many people, as many groups as possible,” she said.
New Yorkers can expect to see several changes in the state assembly as several incumbents have already lost their seats to progressive opponents. Emily Gallagher defeated Joe, Lentol, one of the longest-serving members of the State Assembly. Queens incumbent Aravella Simotas lost her seat to DSA backed candidate Zohran Mamdani and last week Marcela Mitaynes won the 51st Assembly district seat, replacing longtime incumbent Félix Ortiz.