Kurt VanWuyckhuyse is an outsider candidate taking on incumbent Assembly member Josh Jensen, who first won election to this red Rochester-area district in 2020. The district chose Donald Trump over Kamala Harris by almost 10 points in 2024, and Jensen has decisively outraised VanWuyckhuyse, who nonetheless has received a good share of public matching funds (available from the state for candidates who receive small contributions from in-district donors). Overall, we find VanWuyckhuyse to be a compelling and thoughtful candidate—the kind of insurgent who has put himself in a strong position to ride a blue wave into the legislature.

VanWuyckhuyse has lived in the Rochester area for his entire life, where he is now the general manager of his family’s auto shop. He points to his identity as a renter as connecting him to the everyday experiences of Monroe County residents challenged by the affordability crisis. He combines savvy policy analysis with populist arguments. 

For example, on housing, he wrote in response to the questionnaire for this Voter Guide, “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.” We disagree with the diagnosis of private equity buyers being a significant factor in limiting home availability, but we commend VanWuyckhuyse for putting bold supply-side action in language that can appeal to voters. Assembly Member Jensen, on the other hand, has no housing plan on his website and has not led on the creation of solutions to New York’s housing affordability crisis.

On energy, VanWuyckhuyse is “100% committed to hitting our 2040 zero-emission goals,” while Jensen has opposed them. The incumbent has also spoken out against the potential for solar and wind energy in his district, while the challenger is an enthusiastic supporter of those innovative clean energy projects. However, VanWuyckhuyse is skeptical of new nuclear power, which we hope he ultimately embraces.

More broadly, VanWuyckhuyse writes that his 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.” He is supported by the Working Families Party and Citizen Action New York. VanWuyckhuyse provided among the most thorough and forthright responses to our Voter Guide questionnaire. We hope Monroe County voters give him a close look—and a chance to deliver on his ideas in Albany.