The Full Record

NY State Assembly · District 23

Southern Queens and the Rockaway peninsula, including Howard Beach, Ozone Park, Lindenwood, Broad Channel, Far Rockaway and Breezy Point.

General election · Tuesday, November 3, 2026

✓ Fact-checked 2026-09-25: 24 claims re-checked against their sources

A second, independent research pass re-opened every cited source for this race and corrected or removed anything the source didn’t support.

On the ballot · 2 candidates

Pesach OsinaDCommunity First PartyThomas SullivanRCWe The People Party

Where they stand — side by side

Only positions documented in a cited source are shown. Where an officeholder’s recorded votes speak to an issue, the votes set the position (marked “votes”). A dash means we found no clear public position — not that the candidate has none.

ISSUEPesach Osina
DCommunity First Party
Thomas Sullivan
RCWe The People Party
Expand immigration enforcement and deportations—Supports[4]
Loosen zoning rules to build more housingOpposes[3]—
Raise taxes on high earners or corporations—Opposes[4]
Increase police funding and staffingSupports[2]—

The candidates, in full

Pesach Osina

DCommunity First Party

Pesach Osina is the Democratic and Community First Party nominee for the open NY State Assembly District 23 seat. He is a small-business owner and former elected student body president who describes himself as focused on affordability, public safety and transportation in South Queens and the Rockaways.[1][2]

Positions on the issues

  • OpposesLoosen zoning rules to build more housing

    Says residents deserve a real say in what gets built in their neighborhood and that he will oppose overdevelopment, focusing instead on property-tax relief and homeowner protections.[3]

  • SupportsIncrease police funding and staffing

    Says public safety starts with holding repeat offenders accountable and that he will push to give law enforcement the tools they need to keep neighborhoods safe.[2]

    “Public safety matters. Pesach supports law enforcement, believes repeat offenders should be held accountable, and will push for real mental health solutions that make communities safer for everyone.”

In their words — priorities

  • Affordability: pushing back on insurance and utility rate hikes, expanding tax relief for the middle class, and making childcare more affordable.[3]
  • Public safety: strengthening retail-theft laws, holding repeat and organized theft offenders accountable, and giving law enforcement more tools.[3]
  • Transportation: protecting the Cross Bay Bridge toll rebate, expanding Fair Fares, and advancing the QueensLink rail-reactivation project.[2][3]

Background

  • His parents owned and operated a nursing/elder-care business serving elderly residents; Osina describes them facing faith-based discrimination, which he says he fought and won through the legal system.[2]
  • Elected student body president in college, where he built student leadership structures.[2]
  • Became an entrepreneur, launching a catering and events business.[2]
  • Is a father of six.[2][3]
Campaign website ↗Shareable profile page

Thomas Sullivan

RCWe The People Party

Thomas Sullivan is the Republican, Conservative and We The People Party nominee for the open NY State Assembly District 23 seat. He is a retired U.S. Army Reserve colonel and financial-services professional who previously ran for this Assembly seat in 2024 and for NY State Senate District 15 in 2018.[1][4]

Positions on the issues

  • SupportsExpand immigration enforcement and deportations

    Lists securing the border and enforcing immigration laws among the issues he will use his background to address, and names illegal immigration among the state's greatest challenges over the next decade.[4]

  • OpposesRaise taxes on high earners or corporations

    Says high taxes and burdensome regulations harm small-business owners and lists lowering taxes among his top campaign priorities.[4]

In their words — priorities

  • Reducing crime, securing the border and enforcing immigration laws.[4]
  • Lowering taxes and reducing what he calls wasteful government spending.[4]
  • Addressing the high cost of living and quality-of-life issues he says are driving people out of New York.[4]

Background

  • Served in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1993 to 2023, retiring as a colonel; commanded soldiers at the detachment, company, battalion and brigade levels during three combat deployments.[4]
  • Earned a bachelor's degree (1993) and a graduate degree (1996) from Mount Saint Mary's University, and a graduate degree from the U.S. Army War College (2018).[4]
  • Worked as a financial consultant/financial-services professional for over three decades.[4]
  • Grew up working in, and later ran, his family's restaurant business, Brennan & Carr, including a location he opened in Rockville Centre, NY.[4]
Shareable profile page

Research notes & limits

This is an open seat; incumbent Stacey Pheffer Amato is not on the November ballot. Neither candidate has held elected office, so neither has an official voting or bill-sponsorship record; positions rely on their own campaign statements (Osina's website and 2026 Ballotpedia survey; Sullivan's 2024 Ballotpedia survey, his most recent public statement of positions found).

Sources · 4

Researched 2026-09-25. Green citations are official government records.

  1. 1.New York State Assembly District 23 · Ballotpedia · 2026-09-25 Reference
  2. 2.Pesach Osina - Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey · Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey · 2026-09-25 Candidate's own words
  3. 3.Issues · Pesach Osina for NY Assembly Candidate's own words
  4. 4.Thomas Sullivan - Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey · Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey · 2024 Candidate's own words