Abundance New York 2026 State Legislative Candidate Questionnaire
Kurt VanWuyckhuyse
State Assembly, District 134
- Please briefly describe your background and why you are running for this office.
- I’m not a career politician. I manage our family’s auto shop, where my job is to solve problems, manage a budget, and deal honestly with people every single day. I’m running for Assembly District 134 to bring that practical, working-class reality to Albany.
My drive to do this is personal. I decided to run because I lost my brother to cancer, and the reason we lost him was because of insurance red tape. I’ve also seen the toll addiction takes on families through my sister’s battle—though I'm proud to say she's in recovery and doing a great job turning her life around right now. When things get hard, the system needs to work for everyday people, not put up more barriers.
Beyond healthcare, the rising cost of living isn’t just a talking point for me. As a renter, it’s my reality. I'm running because New York has become too expensive for working families. It’s time we hold corporations and the ultra-wealthy accountable and make them pay their fair share. They’ve made record profits and wealth off of our backs, and that money needs to help fund the safety nets working people actually rely on. If we make sure the people at the top pay what they owe, cut the red tape, and actually build more homes, we can make this state affordable to live in instead of just talking about it. - How are you differentiated from your opponent(s)? What does your path to victory look like?
- The biggest difference between me and my opponent, Josh Jensen, is that I want to fix a broken system, and he is actively standing in the way. As the minority ranking member of the Health Committee, Jensen acts as a major roadblock to passing the NY Health Act. I believe we must guarantee healthcare to all New Yorkers so nobody else loses a loved one to insurance red tape. His approach just stalls progress.
Beyond healthcare, my focus is on bringing power back to everyday working people. I want to build affordable housing, protect renters, fix our infrastructure, and fully fund our public schools. I refuse corporate PAC money because my loyalty is only to the people in my district, not special interests.
My path to victory is purely through grassroots work, and we have the ground game to back it up. I'm proud to be supported by NYWFP, NYPAN, Our Revolution, Boosting Future Leaders Onward, Run for Something, and the Outrun Coalition. These groups are actively providing the outreach and field support we need to turn out voters across District 134. By combining their organizing power with a common-sense message focused on passing the NY Health Act, aggressively addressing the housing shortage, and fully funding our communities, we’re doing the work on the ground to flip this seat.
— DEMOCRACY AND DELIVERY —
- Respecting the Democratic Process. We believe in a democracy that delivers, and that includes maintaining a commitment to democratic norms. New York should not take steps to limit access to the ballot. The legitimacy of free and fair elections should not be subverted, and their results should not be challenged after being audited and/or upheld in the courts.
- Agree
- Increasing Focus on Outcomes: New York should revisit and update outdated rules on hiring, procurement, and approvals for infrastructure changes to ensure our protocols are aligned with our values—and should focus on actual outcomes achieved rather than money spent.
- Agree
- Civil Service Reform: New York should make it easier for the government to hire the staff they need by making exams more job-relevant, allowing work experience to count instead of degrees, and enabling temporary appointments. (See agenda item #2)
- Agree
- Capital Project Procurement Reform: New York State should give NYC more procurement flexibility (such as expanded challenge-based procurement and "other transaction authority" style contracting) in order to speed up the delivery of capital projects.(See agenda item #4)
- Agree
- City Charter Reform: New York City voters should approve “COGE” ballot questions 1-4 to accelerate nonprofit contracts, building permits, outdoor dining application review, and bike lane creation.
- Agree
- — HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS —
- Expanding Housing: Addressing the housing affordability crisis requires increasing production of all kinds of housing, including market-rate units, across all neighborhoods and municipalities.
- Agree
- Transit Oriented Development: New York should allow for more housing to be built near existing transit stations including near commuter rail stations, even if that requires changing zoning. (See agenda items #8 and #9)
- Agree
- Property Tax Reform: New York state should reform the property tax system to be fairer, especially for renters; easier to understand; and more progressive. (See agenda item #11)
- Agree
- Homelessness/Expedited permanent supportive housing: Addressing the homelessness crisis requires a housing-first solution such as expedited permanent supportive housing for those in need, because shelters are not a permanent solution. (See agenda item #12)
- Agree
- Build Code Reform: New York, at the city and state level, should embrace building code and licensing reforms (e.g., smaller elevator size requirements, modular construction, mass timber) that make it cheaper to build housing while maintaining safety. (See agenda items #15-17)
- Agree
- — PUBLIC TRANSIT AND THE PUBLIC REALM —
- Reducing Car Dependency: New York should aspire to reduce the number of cars on the road and vehicle miles traveled, by expanding access to high-quality, affordable, and safe public transit and micro-mobility.
- Agree
- Transit Cost Containment: New York should act in a coordinated fashion to reduce the cost of building new transit projects, including reducing the size of stations and allowing the temporary disruption of street traffic to more quickly complete projects. (See agenda item #19)
- Agree
- Busway Expansion: New York City should: 1) expand the number of busways (routes where private cars are banned); and 2) eventually pursue bus rapid transit lines to increase bus speeds throughout the city. (See agenda item #20)
- Agree
- Parking: New York City should charge more for parking and reduce or eliminate free street parking, and should eliminate parking mandates for new homes. (See agenda items #18 and #26)
- Agree
- — CLEAN ENERGY AND RESILIENCY —
- Abundant Clean Energy: New York should prioritize private and public sector construction of new renewable energy, grid electrification and transmission upgrades, and resiliency infrastructure to meet our climate goals and adapt our infrastructure for the future.
- Agree
- Solar Energy: New York State should preempt local regulations that effectively ban solar projects by establishing a ceiling on restrictions and should streamline solar permitting by adopting automated systems in order to enable more solar energy. (See agenda items #32 & #33)
- Agree
- New Energy Development: Beyond solar, New York should expand its nuclear energy capacity—including by building new reactors and extending the life of existing plants—and advance geothermal projects in order to hit the goal of 100% zero-emission electricity generation by 2040. (See agenda items #39 & #40)
- I am 100% committed to hitting our 2040 zero-emission goals, and I strongly support aggressively expanding geothermal energy across the state. When it comes to nuclear, I'll be honest: I have some reservations about building brand new reactors. I understand that wind and solar alone can't run the grid 24/7 and that we need reliable baseload power. Because of that, I support keeping our existing nuclear plants running safely to serve as a bridge. However, before I fully commit to building new advanced reactors, I need to see the data to ensure they are safe, and I need a guarantee that working-class taxpayers aren't going to be left holding the bag for massive corporate cost overruns. I am open to the evidence, but my immediate priority is cutting the red tape to build out geothermal, wind, solar, and grid storage as fast as humanly possible.
- Resiliency Authority: The State should create and empower a public authority to address New York's resilience needs led by a Chief Resilience Officer and guided by a collaborative statewide resilience plan that prioritizes protecting socially vulnerable communities. (See agenda item #37)
- Agree
- — RECORD AND PRIORITIES —
- Abundance Examples from Your Work: Please describe a specific example from your record (legislative, professional, or community work) where you championed a project or policy that is aligned with our agenda. What obstacles did you overcome, and what was the outcome?
- Because I’m coming from a business background, my best example of driving an 'abundance' mindset is how we operate our auto shop. When I stepped into managing operations, we were dealing with outdated legacy systems that slowed everything down. The old way of doing things was creating friction for us and for our customers, who just needed to get their cars fixed affordably so they could get to work.
The biggest obstacle was the 'status quo' mindset. Breaking the habit of 'this is how we’ve always done it' and dealing with the learning curve of overhauling our tech. I pushed through the hesitation, completely modernized our diagnostic systems, integrated modern point-of-sale tools, and streamlined digital communications and payments.
The outcome? We increased our capacity to do our jobs, are able to diagnose issues faster, communicate clearly, and get working people back on the road quicker. It’s a local business example, but it’s the exact same philosophy I want to bring to Albany, which is to identify the outdated bottlenecks, stop making excuses, and upgrade our systems to actually deliver results for everyday people. - Legislative Priorities: If elected (or re-elected), what are your top three priorities? Please be specific about the policies you would advance and what you hope to achieve.
- 1. Passing the New York Health Act:
I lost my brother to cancer because of insurance red tape. Our current system is a bureaucratic nightmare that rations care based on wealth while padding corporate profits. My top priority is guaranteeing healthcare to all New Yorkers, cutting out the parasitic insurance middlemen, and ensuring nobody else loses a loved one because of administrative barriers.
2. Solving the Housing Crisis and Protecting Homeownership:
As a renter, I know housing costs are suffocating working families. We can't fix this without physically building more homes, cutting the red tape that blocks new construction, and investing heavily in affordable housing. But building isn't enough if Wall Street just buys it all up. I want to limit banks and private investors from buying up single-family homes to rent out, and I want to aggressively expand first-time homebuyer programs. Working-class families deserve a real shot at owning a home, and we must pair that with robust tenant protections so people can actually afford to stay in their communities while they save up.
3. Fully Funding Public Goods by Taxing the Ultra-Wealthy:
We need massive investments in our infrastructure. From clean energy and public transit to fully funding our public schools. We can't put that financial burden on working-class families. My priority is holding corporations and the ultra-wealthy accountable to pay their fair share so we have the resources to build a modern, affordable New York that works for everyone.