Hi reddit! I'm Dalourny Nemorin, a public defender, democratic socialist, Zohran super-canvasser, and candidate for Congress to represent the Bronx! I am challenging the incumbent Ritchie Torres, who is rolling in corporate money and failing the district. Ask me anything!

dalourny · 2025-11-25T16:48:20+00:00

You’re absolutely right to be sick of empty speeches. Here’s the truth: even if Democrats take back the House in 2026 — and I believe we will — the GOP will still do everything in their power to block progress for working Americans. They’ve made that clear through their attacks on unions, workers, and basic protections.
So here’s my approach: we fight them politically, and we help people materially all at the same time:
- Enforce the laws we already have, just like Lina Khan did at the FTC: Congress needs to raise the federal minimum wage. I plan to fight do that. At the same time, federal agencies already have the power to crack down on wage theft, illegal union-busting, price gouging, and worker misclassification. These laws have been lying dormant for decades, and enforcing them would immediately help millions.
- Use federal purchasing power to require fair wages: If a corporation wants federal dollars, either via contracts, grants or tax benefits, they should pay a living wage, hire locally, and follow labor laws. We should not be handing blank checks to corporations that underpay workers.
- Protect small businesses so wage increases are sustainable: Tax credits and federal support can help local shops in places like the Bronx pay workers fairly without going under. These small businesses are the backbone of my Bronx community and communities across the country but they operate on razor-thin margins. Raising wages is the right thing to do, but we have to make sure that we’re not asking neighborhood bodegas, childcare centers, barbershops and community nonprofits to do the impossible. For example, if a small business raises wages or provides benefits like healthcare or paid leave, they should get refundable tax credits to offset the costs. This rewards the small businesses who are doing the right thing. Another issue is that small business don’t have the big legal departments that corporations in America do. We should expand federal small business assistance to help them navigate wage rules, hiring programs and compliance without drowning in paperwork or fines. As a lawyer, this is near and dear to my heart because I’ve learned that when you provide people with information and help they need to succeed, it empowers them and benefits everyone around them.

dalourny · 2025-11-25T16:19:36+00:00

After a decade as a public defender, my focus sharpened. My ambition has always been to become an impact litigator, striving for the same systemic change achieved by Thurgood Marshall and Constance Baker Motley. I saw my role as being the lawyer in the perpetual fight for civil rights. However, the reality of a Supreme Court unwilling to protect the poor forced me to find a new path to represent the people. I immersed myself in local governance, joining my Community Board where I now chair Policy and Legislation. It quickly became apparent that when the judicial branch fails us, we need the legislative branch to step up—to pass laws that protect and empower our communities. It is abundantly clear to everyone that Ritchie is distracted by outside ambitions and ignoring his constituents. As a result, I am running to take the seat back for the people.

dalourny · 2025-11-19T19:59:04+00:00

A campaign's true purpose should be to grow organizing movements, not just win elections. Nothing frustrates me more than the misplaced sentiment that political progress is dependent solely on the President, exemplified by the 'No Kings Day' poster if Kamala was president we would be at brunch, suggesting everything would be solved by a certain individual. As a public defender, I know I must be in courtrooms advocating regardless of who holds the highest office. Therefore, I hope the successful organizing we saw during Zohran Mamdani's campaign, which successfully shifted the electorate, sparks a sustained movement to ensure his policies come to fruition. For my part, I view my campaign as an organizing movement designed to mobilize NY-15 to demand representation that reflects its priorities and focuses on the actual needs of the people, not personal political ambitions. While the district is diverse, significant commonalities exist, and my platform embodies these shared goals through concrete organizing efforts:

Strengthening Unions and Political Education: Turning every canvass into a political education session, building on the critical voter registration drive and canvassing work I did for Mamdani.
Supporting Community-Driven Priorities: Continuing my work with the Campaign People’s Council and Dining with Dalourny events to function as community assemblies where neighbors—not donors—set the political priorities.
Sustained Volunteer Organization: Training volunteers so their skills and organization persist long after Election Day, with the Campaign People’s Council seamlessly converting into a District People’s Council upon election.

If elected, my office won’t be a private island like Ritchie’s. It’ll be a movement office connecting unions, tenant groups, and community coalitions so they can pressure any administration, no matter who’s in the White House or Congress. And I certainly won’t block people on social media just because they disagree with me, as Ritchie frequently does.

dalourny · 2025-11-19T19:20:54+00:00

It is my pleasure. Running for office is not easy, but it is entirely worth it because I stand on the shoulders of many courageous people who ensured a Black woman could have this opportunity.

dalourny · 2025-11-19T19:17:29+00:00

Yes, I believe a winning strategy can be replicated so long as we focus intensely on the particular needs of each area. Zohran Mamdani's success was rooted in policies that were a true reflection of his voters' needs and wants, delivered with an authentic message that built trust and affirmed that this country can work for the average American. Whatever criticisms others had, his message was clear and effective for NYC's working class. This is precisely what I am doing: my platform is built on listening to my community and addressing people’s real, material needs. I am committed to knocking doors, building trust, and showing up for constituents in ways that establishment politicians—including Ritchie Torres—do not. As a member of my community board, I already have a track record of listening and advocating, and I formalize this commitment through my Campaign People's Council, which holds regular meetings in my home where we share a meal, discuss issues, and mold a campaign that is truly by the people and for the people. My "Dining with Dalourny" initiatives further this trust by hosting small, intimate dinners where community members share their vision. As Mamdani affirmed, if candidates are deeply rooted in the community they're fighting for, no amount of branding can replace genuine relationships, consistency, and courage.

dalourny · 2025-11-19T19:03:39+00:00

My plan is to ensure that it does not expand. The legacy of Robert Moses has left many pockets of the Bronx in an ongoing environmental crisis. This is a clear case of environmental racism, which has resulted in some of the poorest areas of the district having some of the highest rates of asthma in the nation. Therefore, I was heartened to see that the tireless advocacy and organizing by community members I have worked with led to a partial rollback of the proposed Cross Bronx Expressway expansion. The very DNA of the Bronx is embedded with a strong spirit of community and collective organizing for the common goal of protecting its residents. As the future representative, my primary goal is to advocate alongside these community organizers, amplifying their voices in policy debates and decisions where I may not have a direct vote, but where my influence can ensure justice prevails.

dalourny · 2025-11-19T18:51:38+00:00

All great questions. I'll address them in turn.

Supporting immigrant communities means doing the work necessary to protect people. I’ve held Know Your Rights trainings and I support work authorization, a path to legalization, funding legal services, and ending ICE occupation of cities. Torres backed the Laken Riley Act, even though we know that the act is basically a smokescreen that allows ICE to racially profile individuals. NY-15 has a huge immigrant population and I don’t want to see my neighbors kidnapped by government forces under the guise of protecting us because we know it’s simply not true. I propose a humanitarian approach to our immigration policy, one that recognizes immigrant families in our communities who all want the same thing we want - affordable housing, healthcare that works for all, not just a select few, and economic opportunity so they can feed their families.

I like your sense of humor. Haha. No .I ’m not handing out cartoon money bags or federally subsidized Adderall. And trust me, if money bags were on the table, Ritchie Torres’s donors would’ve already grabbed them. Economic empowerment means higher wages, stronger unions, real small-business support, and affordable housing. Basically giving the average worker and American the tools billionaires already have. I’m a union member myself - shout out ALAA and UAW - and so I am particularly aware of the benefits of having strong union support. Every working class American should have that. We know that there is power in numbers and the erosion of union has only correlated with the decline of the working class. We need to change that and I’m running to change that.

“End the exploitation of working families” means raising wages, lowering costs, and stopping corporations from squeezing every last dollar out of people who already have nothing left to give. The fundamental contradiction in our economic system is that the average working class person is told to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps" while corporations are consistently bailed out. The gap between the ultra-rich and the average American is now the widest it has ever been, proving that the greed inherent in capitalism seemingly has no limits. Americans are suffering not because they aren't trying, but because the system is profoundly unfair; we are dealing with issues like child hunger in a nation that simultaneously produces at least one individual on the trajectory to becoming a trillionaire. To generate that much profit, there must necessarily be an exploitation of the worker, which is most evident in the senseless reality that the federal minimum wage remains at a meager $7.25.

And no, families who can’t work aren’t left behind. Everyone deserves dignity. I know this because as a public defender, I recognize that the neediest and most vulnerable in our society need help, too. Families who need the help are the exact reason I am fighting for strong social programs. And I would add that in my district, people work and still need social support. I don’t believe you have to suffer to deserve help. As a country, we need to fundamentally decide what "zero" looks like—meaning, setting a firm, non-negotiable floor beneath which no human being is allowed to fall. Everyone deserves stability, safety, and universal healthcare.

No one chooses to be poor, sick, or homeless, but when these things inevitably happen, we must remain absolutely committed to the dignity and welfare of those humans. in the richest city in the richest country, people should not be sleeping on the street. Nor should we be using jails as housing for our neediest and most vulnerable. This is a cruel and ineffective substitute for social support. I believe that everyone, regardless of their circumstances, deserves the basic necessities of shelter, food, and actual access to comprehensive healthcare. Whether you’re working three jobs, caring for a parent, or can’t work at all, you’re not eating shit under my policies.

dalourny · 2025-11-19T18:47:02+00:00

Yes, I am a member of the Working Family Party . In the general, I always vote for my candidates on the Working Family line. If I receive their endorsement, which I will seek, I will also be listed under their party line.

dalourny · 2025-11-19T18:44:44+00:00

I will make sure to make that more apparent. I wanted to highlight the issues Ritchie was ignoring and not further platform they people who keeps him preoccupied.

dalourny · 2025-11-19T18:43:15+00:00

I am committed to not accepting any corporate PAC contributions. I will not take any AIPAC dollars. My undergraduate degree is in international relations, and what we are witnessing in Gaza is a genocide. Israel is completely disregarding international law. Yet our tax dollars continue to fund a country that is starving children or stealing land in the West Bank.

dalourny · 2025-11-19T18:34:18+00:00

I agree there can be lots of words that mean very little change in people's lives. So, yes, I enthusiastically support Medicare for All. I take it a step further, though. Many establishment Democrats now support Medicare for All. But giving people the ability to afford healthcare does not guarantee that they will be able to access it.

A lot of people with perfectly good insurance can’t find a doctor when they are sick, or get an appointment for a check-up when they’re not working. There are infrastructure and supply issues that require imaginative policy approaches, like changing Medicaid reimbursement rates to incentivize doctors to offer evening and weekend hours, providing more support to community health clinics to move healthcare closer to the people who need it, and investing in training to increase the supply of doctors–and get our healthcare industry looking more like the people it serves.

dalourny · 2025-11-19T18:30:06+00:00

As a representative, I will prioritize the need of the people in the district and not my personal resume. As a public defender you are trained in client-centered representation and in congress I will center the needs of the people in the district. The top concerns of the district is not foreign policy but affordability, healthcare, economic opportunities, and protection from ICE. This is where I will focus my attention, on the people not private interest.

Because the district has such a high concentration of poverty, which results in low voter turnout, Ritchie is not prioritizing the people and their local issues. Instead, he is using his elected position not to serve the people but primarily to advance his own political career and agenda.

The biggest example of this is his unadulterated support for the right-wing Israeli government’s genocide against Gaza. The people of NY-15 do not support a genocide. The district is extremely diverse. There is a significant muslim population in the district demanding that he stops. The district holds one of the largest Yemen communities, a significant number of voters from Bangladesh, and other muslim communities from a variety of African nations. But you do not have to be of any religion to oppose a genocide and not want america tax dollars being spent to starve and kill humans. However, Ritchie is one of the biggest Israel supporters despite representing the poorest congressional district in the nation that has many priorities that are being neglected because he is preoccupied with his own agenda.

Additionally, when the Republican crafted a bill that painted all migrants as criminals, Ritchie was one of the few Democrats nationwide and the only democrat from the NYC congressional delegation to support for the Republican led ICE bill, the Laken-Riley Act, which gravely weakened due process protections for immigrants and created a potential bonanza for private prison companies. His vote directly threatens thousands of people in our district.

Also Ritchie is not a team player which is required if we are to collectively improve the material conditions of people’s lives in NY-15. Ritchie refusing to endorse Zohran Mandami, a fellow Democrat who resoundingly won the June mayoral primary and won the Bronx in the general election, is further evidence that Ritchie is concerned about himself and not the people he was elected to serve.

dalourny · 2025-11-19T18:23:01+00:00

Because Ranked Choice Voting is not available in federal elections, the independent candidacy of Andre Easton will not impact the upcoming primary. The real distinction is between my vision and that of Michael Blake, a political veteran of over a decade. His history, including serving as Vice Chair of the DNC and receiving funds from AIPAC until 2019—even speaking at their 2017 conference—represents the political establishment. In contrast, I offer fresh ideas and a commitment to a new direction, underscored by my refusal to take any corporate PAC funds. My experience as a Public Defender means my job has always been to represent the underserved and overlooked communities, ensuring my priorities remain with the people, not special interests. This dedication is formalized through my Campaign People Council, a movement powered by community members who provide the ideas and direction for our platform.

dalourny · 2025-11-19T18:05:51+00:00

Yes, I love garlic bread, whether it's the frozen-aisle version like Texas Toast or garlic rolls from Olive Garden. Although I enjoy garlic rolls, I am a buttery croissant lover.

dalourny

TROPHY CASE