CLIMATE ACTIVIST ENTERS STATE ASSEMBLY RACE

ESOPUS – Sarahana Shrestha calls herself a “climate organizer” but she hopes that a year from now she will have another title – that of state assemblywoman.

She announced on Monday that she is running for the 103rd District seat currently held by fellow Democrat Kevin Cahill. The district includes portions of Ulster and Dutchess counties.

Shrestha, a first-generation immigrant from Nepal, who lives in the Town of Esopus, said she is running to change the culture of Albany and fight for the future the Hudson Valley deserves.

“We really have to treat this as a crisis. We have a short window in which we can really pass legislation that can protect people. All it takes is political will. That is the leap we have to make, because right now we have the super-majority that is veto-proof that can do this,” she said.

Shrestha has been endorsed by the Mid-Hudson Valley Chapter of Democratic Socialists of America and by For the Many, formerly known as Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson.