State Assembly Race Heats Up as 3 Dems Vie for Epstein’s Seat
Kevin O’Keefe, Josh Arnon, and Gabriel Turzo have all tossed their hats into the ring as Democrats seeking to represent Assembly District 74 on the East Side. Of course, it is all dependent on incumbent Harvey Epstein vacating if he wins the November election for a City Council seat.
| 19 Sep 2025 | 08:06
Kevin O’Keefe (center), at the kickoff party at Hill and Bay on Sept. 16, is the third Democrat to enter the race for what is expected to be a vacant Assembly seat in the 74th District on the East Side now held by Harvey Epstein, who is running for City Council. (
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Harvey Epstein, the current Assembly member for District 74 on the East Side, is the heavy favorite to win the Nov. 4 election to the City Council District 2, which Carlina Rivera just vacated. That will trigger a special election to fill out his unexpired term in the Assembly, and as of now three candidates are in the race to secure the Dem party nomination for that seat. (
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Josh Arnon is making his first bid for public office. He describes himself as a “Jewish Democratic Socialist” and is a campaign worker for Dem mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Earlier he was paid a canvasser for the Working Families Party. (
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Gabriel Turzon is making his first bid for public office. He is a longtime board member of Community Board 6. (
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Three Democratic candidates are vying to fill the seat now held by State Assembly Member Harvey Epstein, who is running for the City Council seat that Carlina Rivera vacated last month.
The latest to jump into the race is Kevin O’Keefe, the founder and president of the St. Vartan Park Conservancy. He is married with three children and lives in Stuyvesant Town and held a launch event at Hill & Bay restaurant in Murray Hill/Kips Bay on Sept. 17.
Already in the race on the Democratic side are Josh Arnon, a self-described “Jewish Democratic Socialist,” and Gabriel Turzon, a treasurer of Eleanor Roosevelt Independent Democrats and, since 2017, a member of Community Board 6. He is vice chair of the CB6 Transportation committee and a supporter of the 34th Street busway, which will ban cars from the busy crosstown street in order to speed up bus times.
O’Keefe, who formed the St. Vartan Park Conservancy, which he still heads, is also a member of CB6. The former college track star was the track coach of Epiphany School, which his three kids attended. He is making parks and education, both public and private, strong planks in his campaign. In his life as a public relations and communications specialist he worked with Nelson Mandela when he was first released from prison in South Africa. He first moved to New York City to be closer to another client, tennis legend Arthur Ashe.
He says he is “progressive on some issues but moderate on other issues,” including public safety. Definitely not a “defund the police” supporter.
Arnon is a longtime resident of Waterside, the former Mitchell-Lama complex, and his website says he “remembers when it was affordable.”
He’s 29 years old and this is his first bid for elected office. His website says he was an early supporter of Zohran Mamdani’s campaign and has helped with fundraising. He was involved in the film industry and worked for Scott Rudin, a prolific and award-winning filmmaker, who, it turns out, had a long history of belittling and abusing his workers. Arnon was quoted in a New York Times article in 2021 speaking out about the disgraced film maker.
The candidates are declaring early for a seat that is not yet vacant because it will be a compressed timetable between the November election and a special election to fill the seat that will have to be called by the governor.
There are likely to be several other vacant seats in Manhattan if, as expected, Democratic candidates get elected in November. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, the incumbent state senator on the West Side, is running on the Democratic line for borough president and is a heavy favorite.
Epstein is the heavy favorite to win his race against Republican Jason Murillo. Whoever wins would be sworn in as a City Council member probably within the week after the votes are certified because the seat is empty. Carlina Rivera resigned in August to become head of the New York State Association for Affordable Housing.
Before a general election is held, Assembly District 74 will need to hold a Democratic primary. Governor Kathy Hochul would pick the dates for the primary and the special election to fill the seats. That is expected sometime in the early part of 2026, but no date has been set yet.