Maya Kornberg pitches ‘pragmatic progressivism’ in Brooklyn council race

Six months out from the Democratic primary, a race for City Council in brownstone Brooklyn is shaping up to be one of the more competitive in the 2025 cycle. Incumbent Council Member Shahana Hanif is facing a challenge from Maya Kornberg, a first-time candidate and senior research fellow at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice. 

A Northern California native with family roots in New York, Kornberg has lived in Brooklyn for more than six years. Her work at the Brennan Center, and at nonprofits and international organizations before that, has centered on democratic governance and combating political violence. Kornberg, who describes herself as a “pragmatic progressive,” has positioned herself as not quite as left as Hanif, a democratic socialist and co-chair of the council’s Progressive Caucus. Kornberg believes her pragmatic approach would differ from Hanif’s and involve building relationships to deliver results rather than political posturing. In one example, Kornberg criticized Hanif for voting against the city budget – a protest move she and other progressives have taken during past budget votes by the council.

Kornberg’s challenge comes amid strained relationships between Hanif and some Jewish leaders, who have raised concern about Hanif’s critical comments about Israel and the war in Gaza, and argue she hasn’t paid enough attention to antisemitic incidents in the district. Kornberg said she’s heard those concerns from residents of the district, as well as broader concerns about public safety, which she argues Hanif has not prioritized as a council member. 

But that issue, Kornberg said, is not the focus of her campaign. Reached for comment on several of Kornberg’s arguments, Hanif said that she agrees on that point. “This election isn’t about foreign policy, it’s about who has the best vision for New York City and for our district,” she said in a statement. “Leadership also means standing up for what’s right. I’m proud of my work to combat hate and discrimination,” she said, mentioning bills to combat antisemitism and promote religious diversity in schools.

Hanif also defended her broader record, saying that she has spent years building up the relationships and trust needed to serve the diverse needs of the district, and said she has expanded her constituent services team. “I’m proud of the over 800 bills I’ve cosponsored, the 36 I’ve introduced, and the 11 I’ve passed as lead sponsor, including landmark legislation like the NYC Abortion Rights Act, Universal Curbside Composting, and the Workers Bill of Rights. My record shows that I’ve built relationships across differences while also standing firm when it matters most,” Hanif said. She also defended her budget “no” vote, saying that in the most recent cycle, advocacy by her and her colleagues helped blunt some of the budget cuts proposed by Mayor Eric Adams.

On consistent services, Hanif said her office manages over 3,000 constituent requests every year. On public safety, Hanif said that she stands by her criticism of the New York City Police Department, and argued that more training won’t solve discriminatory behavior by cops. “The NYPD’s budget is the largest in the world, while our schools, libraries, childcare, and essential services are continuously defunded,” Hanif said, adding that she does still coordinate with local precincts.

Though it’s still early in the race, the Democratic primary in District 39 is one of several we’re keeping a close eye on. In an interview with City & State earlier this month, Kornberg discussed some of the issues that are central to her campaign – though she filed to run before his victory, protecting New Yorkers from a Trump presidency is a big one – and why she’s running against Hanif. Not long after our interview, Kornberg became one of just 16 council candidates across the city to be approved for the first batch of public matching funds released by the city Campaign Finance Board, putting her ahead of Hanif, who had not yet submitted the paperwork to receive the funds.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What sparked this desire to run for City Council?

I’ve really spent my whole career focused on making democracy work better for the people that it’s meant to serve. With the Trump presidency now looming, I think for me, it’s really made very clear how important local government is and will be in standing up to an assault that, frankly, I’m afraid will happen to basic rights and values of the progressive movement. I’m running for council in District 39 because I want to make sure that this district and the city has the resources and the tools that people need to make sure that our community is happy and is thriving.

What are the particular areas of concern where you see the Trump presidency affecting the city’s resources or rights of New Yorkers?

I think that there is the fear that there will be an attack on a lot of different fronts, so I’ll just name a few. I was pregnant for a lot of this past year, and I had a high-risk pregnancy as a result of living with a chronic autoimmune illness, and I had to fight every step of the way just to get the basic care that I needed as a pregnant individual with a high-risk pregnancy. So I want to fight to make sure that everyone in the city has the patient advocates and interpreters and tools that they need to get basic health care at a time when I think that I and many other people feel that there is a real threat to women’s health across the country, and to reproductive health and maternal health in particular. That’s one area. I think another area is just an assault on democracy as a whole. Project 2025 and the Trump administration, in terms of some of the interviews and the hints that they’ve given thus far in terms of what they will do when they take office – it’s been very alarming to hear them say that they’re going to go after the Jan. 6 committee members, just completely disband certain checks and balances. … The other thing that I would say – as one of many things that I think a lot of us fear with the Trump administration but one that I think is particularly important to me – is climate change. It’s very alarming to me to hear some of the plans that the administration has for breaking down and assaulting some of the basic infrastructure and policy innovations that the Biden administration and others have put in place in order to make sure that we have green infrastructure. I think that it makes it all the more important, again, to act locally. We had a big fire here in Prospect Park recently, and it made it very clear to me, and I think to many others, how real climate change is as a challenge facing this district and facing the city. I live not too far from a lot of the flooding in the Gowanus area of my district, and that is a constant reminder of the increasing likelihood of floods that we’re going to have to deal with. And the City Council has a lot of power to put together basic infrastructure to make sure that we’re safe and sustainable in this district..

You’re challenging an incumbent Democrat in this seat. What would you do differently than Council Member Hanif? Are there things you think she hasn’t done well enough that motivate this run?

I would highlight three things. I think that the ABCs of good government are that people want to be listened to, they want to be heard, and government works better when it listens to them. And I think that we can be doing better when it comes to constituent services here and making sure that we’re meeting people throughout the district where they are. It’s a very, very diverse district with a lot of different constituent groups. And one of the things that I’ve enjoyed doing since filing to run in August is to be out there every single day, meeting with people, meeting with local community leaders about issues of housing and small businesses and flooding and the environment – and all the other issues affecting the district. …  The second thing that I would highlight is that we do differ on some of our policies. I believe from my work on keeping electeds and elections safe, that communication with local law enforcement is key. I think that the criminal justice system in this country is deeply broken and struggles from problems of racism, and I think the way to fix things is to take a nuanced approach that brings in the different stakeholders. One of the things that that includes, is being in conversation with local law enforcement. I have been attending for months now the NYPD Community Council meetings in the 78th District, and I have learned about about the issues facing the precinct, and I think that it is really important to be investing more at this time in mental health training for police officers and tools for police officers, in anti-racism training. I think that calls to defund the police are not making this community safer. I think we need to be coming together to be in conversation with the different stakeholders and think together about how to make this community safer, how to do things together like bringing in more restorative justice programs and more community alternative solutions, together with being in conversation with local law enforcement. That's one of, I think, several policies on which we may differ. (Note: Hanif is a co-chair of the council’s Progressive Caucus, which states as part of its mission reducing the size and scope of the NYPD and funding alternative safety infrastructure.)  … The third thing that I would highlight is my approach. I consider myself a pragmatic progressive. I think, especially right now, in our soul searching as a progressive movement since the Trump election, it’s clear to me that we need to be focused on bringing home real results for people who are struggling in this country and in this district. And to me, that means focusing on relationship building and consensus building and results, rather than using a megaphone for lip service to certain causes or posturing on certain things. 

One point that’s been brought up in this race is the idea that Council Member Hanif has not listened enough to Jewish constituents and their concerns about antisemitism in the district, or that she is not responding to the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, or the war in Gaza, in the way people would like to see. Have you heard that concern or other concerns about her position on Israel or the war in Gaza?

Those are certainly concerns that I have heard from folks. The City Council is, the way I see it, not the State Department. And I think that the most important thing for a City Council member with the platform that they have as an elected is to be using that to make sure, as I said, that constituents – from different walks of life in the district and from different perspectives – feel seen and heard and safe, particularly at a time when there is rising racist violence and acts of hate in this country. I think that has to be the priority, and that has to be prioritized, instead of sounding off on geopolitical issues.

Do you see your own views on Israel or the war in Gaza as different from the council member’s?

I think that we can all agree that there has to be a ceasefire, and the return of the hostages. I, for many months now, have been praying for that, praying for there to be a peaceful resolution to this conflict. For those interested in thinking about the solutions to the geopolitical issues, that, to me, has to be the priority. That said, I think that I may differ from the council member, just in the way in which the issue was prioritized. It’s certainly important for people to use their platform to be speaking on issues that matter. But again, I think that the priority has to be on making sure, as a council member, that the focus is on constituent safety and constituent engagement at a time when a lot of constituents in this district felt very personally affected by what was going on and by the rise of racist violence that has followed in the last year. … I will say that I am not running to solve geopolitics. I am not running because of the war in the Middle East, and I, again, believe that the City Council is not the State Department, and that the place to solve the conflict is certainly not the New York City Council. 

Are you saying that the council member has not focused enough on those more local issues, as opposed to the war in Gaza? I just want to connect the dots there, make sure I’m understanding correctly.

What I’ve heard in my many conversations in the last months, both as an active community member and now as a candidate, has been that a lot of folks haven't felt seen and heard in the way that I think that they should. I think that there is space to hold discomfort and disagreement, and that the job of a City Council member should be to hold space for different kinds of views and meeting with constituents and thinking with them about ways to come together as a community. I have also heard in different parts of the district, concerns about local issues, including safety of constituents at a time of rising antisemitic violence, rising Islamophobic violence, rising racist violence in this country. So to me, that’s something that a City Council member has a lot of power to shape together with the community, and that has to be the priority. So that’s kind of what I’ve heard from my conversations and what I hope that we can do better on.

Despite the City Council not being the State Department, do you anticipate that the war in Gaza and opinions about it here will become a major issue in this local council race?

I certainly think that it might. I have seen it come up as an issue, just like it’s coming up in this conversation already. I think part of that is because of some of the concerns that the community has had with how the issue has been handled. And it certainly may come up again. But it is not the issue that I am running on, not an issue that I believe we should be centering in City Council campaigns, when we have so many other crises that we're facing. It is one that I am prepared to talk about, and certainly understand why it might matter to a lot of folks in the district, but it is not central to my campaign or my platform.

You had a pretty big haul in the first campaign finance filing, with donations from some of the council member’s vocal critics as well as some prominent donors like the Blavatniks, who have donated to both Trump and President Joe Biden. Why do you believe that these donors are supporting your run? 

I am very proud to be fundraising with New York City public financing. It’s a program that I have supported for many years as a democracy advocate. I think it’s a great equalizer, especially for young people running for office, for women running for office. … About half of my donors come from the district itself, which I think is representative of the kind of grassroots campaign that I’m aiming to run. And my average donor is giving between $100 and $150. I’m very proud of that, and of the small donor driven campaign as one that represents the values that I stand for. Certainly, there have been a handful of individuals, wealthy individuals, who have donated to the campaign, who have also donated to other Democratic – and in the one instance, Len Blavatnik is the one instance that has been mentioned as someone who has donated to Republicans – but my majority donor is the city, with the eight-to-one match program. So in that sense, those donations from individuals at  relatively very small amounts are in no way going to shape the values of my campaign any more than the hundreds of local donors, other local donors, who I’m listening to every day. 

Do you have a relationship with the Blavatniks?

I do not have a relationship with the Blavatniks, no.

Are there any donations or other kinds of support – like endorsements or independent expenditures – that you’re ruling out in this campaign? Like a pledge not to accept real estate developer or lobbyist donations, for example.

I have not received any PAC money, any lobbyist money, any real estate money. And as I said, it’s a small donor driven campaign, and I hope to continue it that way.