For more than two decades, Ana María Archila has worked to support social and economic justice organizing efforts by immigrant, people of color, low-income, and LGBTQ communities — in New York and, in recent years, nationwide. For the average New York voter, however, Archila’s name and face are more likely recognizable for her impassioned September 2018 confrontation with then-Senator Jeff Flake at an elevator near his office, when she demanded that the Arizona Republican support further investigation of sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Now, Archila, an out bisexual immigrant from Colombia, is looking to bring her voice to the highest levels of state government as a candidate for lieutenant governor in the June 28 Democratic primary. The running mate in City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams’ bid for governor, she is facing off against Antonio Delgado, a former upstate member of Congress sworn in days ago as Governor Kathy Hochul’s lieutenant governor, and Diana Reyna, a former city councilmember who also served as deputy Brooklyn borough president under Mayor Eric Adams in his former role. Reyna is partnered in her race with Tom Suozzi, a Long Island congressmember challenging Hochul.
