In Assembly District 37, Democratic voters must decide between a moderate Democrat, a Democratic Socialist and the incumbent — Assemblyman Juan Ardila — who has been facing resignation calls in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal.

Although it’s a competitive three-way primary race, Ardila did not respond to multiple requests for an interview with NY1.

The district must decide if they’re happy with a progressive at the helm, or do they favor more moderate representation?

“We can’t wait in the midst of a climate crisis, in the midst of a housing crisis. We need real strong advocates and champions for working families to go to Albany,” candidate Claire Valdez said.

Valdez moved to the district a little over five years ago and is originally from Texas. She’s a tenant and union organizer, backed by groups representing the left wing of the party, including the Democratic Socialists of America.

“There is a really broad constituency for popular programs like taxing the rich, universal health care, universal child care and understanding that the Democratic status quo hasn’t been serving your families and we need real change,” she said.

Johanna Carmona, a Sunnyside native, worked for former longtime Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan. As a lawyer, she’s worked on sex crime cases in the Queens District Attorney’s Special Victims Unit.

“It really is about being born and raised here. When I was very young, my mother suffered a stroke and, like it was the community that really rallied up behind us,” Carmona said.

When asked about the migrant crisis and New York’s role in it, Carmona said the state should improve the process of granting work authorization.

“We have seen an increase of immigrants and, coming from an immigrant family myself, my parents come from Colombia and I do think that at some point we have put people in very stressful and desperate situations the way we’ve handled it. I do think we have to streamline work authorization so people can actually have the tools to succeed.”

The district covers the Queens neighborhoods of Long Island City, Sunnyside, Ridgewood and parts of Woodside and Maspeth.

The incumbent, Juan Ardila, was elected in 2022. At the time, he was backed by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and several unions. But upon taking office, two women accused Ardila of sexually assaulting them back in 2015 — prompting calls for his resignation.

“People are very aware of the allegations and they’re very aware that for the last two-ish years, they’ve not had representation in Albany,” Valdez said.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie took Ardila’s right to dole out taxpayer funds to the district. Instead granting the duty to another Queens Democrat — outgoing Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry.

“Not for profits that people really depend on — one of them I depended on growing up — they received less funding,” Carmona said.

A moderate Democrat, it’s Carmona’s second time running.

“Someone just doing talking points and speaking ideology — it’s more of, they want to see what have you accomplished, what can you possibly do?” Carmona said of what voters in the district need.

Valdez, however, said Democrats need to take a serious look at the issues New Yorkers are concerned about.

“We need people who will be champions for our fight, and we will fight for universal programs. We can’t accept piecemeal patchwork solutions anymore,” she said. “We need real solutions and our families need to be made whole.”

The primary election is set for next Tuesday, June 25.