New York's 34th State Senate district

New York's 34th State Senate district
Senator	Nathalia Fernandez D–Morris Park
Registration	65.8% Democratic 12.5% Republican 17.6% No party preference
Demographics	35% White 14% Black 43% Hispanic 7% Asian
Population (2017)	328,268[1]
Registered voters	194,537[2]

New York's 34th State Senate district is one of 63 districts in the New York State Senate. It has been represented by Democrat Nathalia Fernandez since 2023, succeeding Alessandra Biaggi.^[3]

Alessandra Biaggi ran in 2018 for the Democratic nomination for New York State Senate in District 34. While only 32 years old, she ran against powerful longtime incumbent Jeffrey D. Klein, the number 2 Democrat in the NY Senate and the leader of the Independent Democratic Conference, who had held the seat for 14 years.^[4][5][6] Klein outspent Biaggi by a rate of 9-to-1, spending $2 million to her $200,000.^[7] Biaggi said: "The more people told me I couldn’t win, the more obsessed I became."^[8]

In a major upset, Biaggi defeated Klein in the primary, 54%-46%.^[9][10] She remarked: "It was a tough fight. And, I should also say, we should thank [Senator Klein] for his service. But his time is up.”^[11] Subsequently, on November 6, 2018, she defeated Republican Richard Ribustello 76.0%-14.9%, and was elected to the New York State Senate.^{[9][12][13][14][15][16]} At 32 years of age, she became one of the youngest women ever elected to the New York State Senate.^[16]

Geography

District 34 includes parts of the Bronx and southern Westchester County.^[1][17]

The district overlaps with New York's 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th congressional districts, and with the 78th, 80th, 81st, 82nd, 84th, 85th, 87th, 88th, and 89th districts of the New York State Assembly.^[18]

Recent election results

2024

2024 New York State Senate election, District 34^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Nathalia Fernandez (incumbent)	58,327	67.5
	Republican	Edwinna Herrera	25,395
	Conservative	Edwinna Herrera	2,513
	Total	Edwinna Herrera	27,908	32.3
	Write-in		208	0.2
Total votes			86,443	100.0
	Democratic hold

2022

2022 New York State Senate election, District 34^[20]^[21]

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Nathalia Fernandez	5,791	62.6
	Democratic	Christian Amato	2,673	28.9
	Democratic	John Perez	706	7.6
	Write-in		87	0.9
Total votes			9,257	100.0
General election
	Democratic	Nathalia Fernandez	34,378	65.2
	Republican	Samantha Zherka	17,101
	Conservative	Samantha Zherka	1,234
	Total	Samantha Zherka	18,335	34.8
	Write-in		18	0.0
Total votes			52,731	100.0
	Democratic hold

2020

2020 New York State Senate election, District 34^[22]^[23]^[24]

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Alessandra Biaggi (incumbent)	28,665	87.6
	Democratic	James Gisondi	3,941	12.1
	Write-in		108	0.3
Total votes			32,714	100.0
General election
	Democratic	Alessandra Biaggi	76,131
	Working Families	Alessandra Biaggi	7,600
	Total	Alessandra Biaggi (incumbent)	83,731	73.9
	Republican	James Gisondi	25,634	22.6
	Conservative	Antonio Vitiello	3,829	3.4
	Write-in		114	0.1
Total votes			113,308	100.0
	Democratic hold

2018

2018 New York State Senate election, District 34^[23]

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Alessandra Biaggi	19,318	54.3
	Democratic	Jeffrey Klein (incumbent)	16,290	45.7
	Write-in		0	0.0
Total votes			35,608	100.0
General election
	Democratic	Alessandra Biaggi	58,112
	Working Families	Alessandra Biaggi	2,470
	Total	Alessandra Biaggi	60,582	76.0
	Republican	Richard Ribustello	11,875	14.9
	Independence	Jeffrey Klein (incumbent)	5,736	7.2
	Conservative	Antonio Vitiello	1,430	1.8
	Write-in		42	0.1
Total votes			79,665	100.0
	Democratic hold

2016

2016 New York State Senate election, District 34^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jeffrey Klein	76,099
	Women's Equality	Jeffrey Klein	2,695
	Independence	Jeffrey Klein	2,204
	Total	Jeffrey Klein (incumbent)	80,998	90.1
	Conservative	Aleksander Mici	6,080	6.8
	Green	Carl Lundgren	2,686	3.0
	Write-in		110	0.1
Total votes			89,874	100.0
	Democratic hold

2014

2014 New York State Senate election, District 34^[23]

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jeffrey Klein (incumbent)	9,211	64.8
	Democratic	G. Oliver Koppell	5,008	35.2
	Write-in		0	0.0
Total votes			14,219	100.0
General election
	Democratic	Jeffrey Klein	29,344
	Women's Equality	Jeffrey Klein	1,440
	Independence	Jeffrey Klein	511
	Total	Jeffrey Klein (incumbent)	31,295	76.2
	Republican	Aleksander Mici	6,103	14.9
	Conservative	Frank Dellavelle	1,957	4.8
	Green	Carl Lundgren	1,638	4.0
	Write-in		70	0.1
Total votes			41,063	100.0
	Democratic hold

2012

2012 New York State Senate election, District 34^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jeffrey Klein	62,168
	Republican	Jeffrey Klein	15,360
	Working Families	Jeffrey Klein	2,099
	Independence	Jeffrey Klein	795
	Total	Jeffrey Klein (incumbent)	80,422	93.8
	Conservative	Elizabeth Perri	3,940	4.6
	Green	Carl Lundgren	1,348	1.6
	Write-in		44	0.0
Total votes			85,754	100.0
	Democratic hold

Federal results in District 34

Year	Office	Results[25][26]
2020	President	Biden 71.6 – 27.1%
2016	President	Clinton 73.5 – 23.9%
2012	President	Obama 74.3 – 24.8%
	Senate	Gillibrand 80.7 – 18.0%

References

1. "State Senate District 34, NY". Census Reporter. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
2. "Enrollment by Senate District". New York State Board of Elections. February 2019.
3. "New York State Senator Nathalia Fernandez". The New York State Senate. Retrieved June 1, 2023.
4. McKinley, Jesse (July 11, 2018). "Rivals of Democratic Renegades Pick Up Endorsements and Momentum". The New York Times.
5. Wang, Vivian (April 11, 2019). "A Shouting Match, Nasty Personal Attacks and a Growing Rift Among N.Y. Democrats". The New York Times.
6. "Pelhamite Alessandra Biaggi Challenging State Sen. Jeff Klein for Democratic Nomination". The Pelham Plus. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
7. Lungariello, Mark. "Jeff Klein spent more than $3M in NYS Senate primary loss". The Journal News.
8. Venugopal Ramaswamy, Swapna. "Alessandra Biaggi: A losing streak, then unseating a political kingpin". lohud.com. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
9. "Alessandra Biaggi". Ballotpedia.
10. Edward Schneier (2019). Putting People Back in Politics; The Revival of American Democracy
11. Wang, Vivian (September 14, 2018). "Democratic Insurgents Topple 6 New York Senate Incumbents". The New York Times.
12. Alison Durkee (November 7, 2018). "Progressive challenger Alessandra Biaggi defeats Richard Ribustello in New York state Senate race". Mic.
13. "Alessandra Biaggi defeats Bronx Sen. Jeff Klein in NY primary". WPIX. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
14. Lombardo, D. September 13, 2018. "Former IDC senators struggling to retain Democratic support". Albany Times Union. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
15. "Alessandra Biaggi victory in state Senate race puts 'nail in the IDC coffin'". Rockland/Westchester Journal News. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
16. Claire Wasserman (2021). Ladies Get Paid; The Ultimate Guide to Breaking Barriers, Owning Your Worth, and Taking Command of Your Career
17. "Our District". The New York State Senate. Retrieved June 1, 2023.
18. David Jarman. "How do counties, House districts, and legislative districts all overlap?". Daily Kos. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
19. "2024 Election Results". New York State Board of Elections. Retrieved December 11, 2024.
20. "2022 Election Results". New York State Board of Elections. Retrieved June 28, 2023.
21. "2022 Federal and State Primary Results". New York State Board of Elections. Retrieved June 28, 2023.
22. "Certified Results from the June 23, 2020 Primary Election" (PDF). New York State Board of Elections. August 6, 2020. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
23. "New York State Senate District 34". Ballotpedia. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
24. "State Senator 34th Senate District - General Election - November 3, 2020". New York State Board of Elections. December 3, 2020. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
25. "Daily Kos Elections Statewide Results by LD". Daily Kos. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
26. "2020 Presidential by Legislative District & Most Recent Election Result". CNalysis. Retrieved June 9, 2021.