Campaign Insiders is PoliticsNY’s latest Q&A series featuring candidates running for office in the 2026 New York primary election. This edition of Campaign Insiders features Chuck Park, who is running to represent New York’s 6th Congressional District. The 6th Congressional District is located in Queens and includes Bayside, East Elmhurst, Elmhurst, Flushing, Forest Hills, Fresh Meadows, Glendale, Jackson Heights, Kew Gardens, Maspeth, Middle Village, Woodside and Rego Park.
What are the top three issues for your campaign?
- Abolish ICE
- Stop funding wars and genocide
- Universal healthcare and childcare
Why did you decide to run for office?
In August 2025, a six-year-old girl from Elmhurst and her mother were detained by ICE during a routine immigration check-in. They were swiftly sent to a detention center in Texas. My community was shocked and terrified. I contacted Rep. Meng’s office and was told the family, now thousands of miles away, should submit a form. They had no plans to organize our community against ICE. That moment convinced me we needed accountable representation in Congress.
What do you believe is the top issue facing voters and how do you plan to address it if elected?
The top issue facing voters is affordability and how our government’s misplaced priorities are making it worse. Instead of healthcare and childcare, we’re spending billions on ICE raids and overseas wars – conflicts that drive up the cost of everything from gas to groceries. In Congress, I’ll fight to redirect resources to working families, support legislation to curb the President’s war powers, and refuse money from the corporations that profit from the broken status quo.
How does your background qualify you to hold office?
As the child of immigrant street vendors, I saw the promise of our city realized in families like ours. I carried that promise overseas as a U.S. diplomat, only to see it broken in our immigration and trade policies. Back home, as a community advocate, I organized and mobilized immigrant communities who needed a voice. And as a husband, dad, and foster parent, I’m ready to fight for Queens working families like my own.
Why should voters choose you over your opponent?
Representative Meng has forgotten that she answers to the people of Queens, not corporate PACs and foreign interest groups. That she should fight ICE, not offer them gratitude and support. That she should reduce our war budget, not give bigger contracts to her donors at Lockheed Martin and Boeing. That she should fight for Medicare For All, not let her donors at Pfizer and CVS continue to profit from our broken health system.
From now until early voting, Campaign Insiders will be featuring candidates from select democratic primary races across the City & State. Be sure to check back to hear from a wide range of candidates from assembly, senate, and congressional races as well as the NYS comptroller race!
Early voting in NYC is June 13th-21st and Election Day is June 23rd. Check out the PoliticsNY Election Primer to see who will be on your ballot and don’t forget to vote this June!
