NEW YORK (Diya TV) — New York State Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar lost her bid for a fourth term Tuesday night, defeated in the Democratic primary for the 38th Assembly District by David Orkin, a candidate backed by the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.

With more than 94 percent of the expected vote counted, Orkin received 58.8 percent of the vote to Rajkumar’s 40.9 percent. The district covers South and Central Queens, including Glendale, Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Ridgewood, Woodhaven and parts of South Ozone Park and South Richmond Hill. 

Rajkumar is a civil rights lawyer who made history in 2020 as the first Indian American woman ever elected to New York State office. She graduated from Stanford Law School and the University of Pennsylvania and previously served as New York State’s Director of Immigration Affairs, where she built and led a first-in-the-nation $31 million project to assist immigrants in obtaining legal services.

Among her legislative accomplishments, Rajkumar passed a domestic workers protection package, authored the SMOKEOUT Act targeting illegal smoke shops, and established New York State’s first Asian American and Pacific Islander Commission. She had won the seat in 2020 by defeating a two-term incumbent, and ran unopposed in the Democratic primary in both 2022 and 2024.

Orkin, an immigrant workers’ rights attorney and union organizer, centered his campaign on affordable rent, healthcare and childcare, and abolishing ICE. He is a staff attorney at Make the Road New York.

The race was contentious well before Election Day. In April, Orkin filed a lawsuit in Queens Supreme Court alleging that Rajkumar’s campaign had forged petition signatures in an effort to secure her ballot access, seeking to have her removed from the ballot. Rajkumar’s campaign called the suit meritless and described it as political mudslinging.

A Board of Elections clerks’ review found that Rajkumar had submitted 2,558 signatures and retained 1,494 valid signatures after 1,064 were invalidated on ordinary election-law grounds. The threshold for ballot access is 500 signatures. The same report noted that 1,168 forgery objections were not ruled upon for lack of jurisdiction.

A Queens judge ultimately dismissed the case on procedural grounds, ruling that Orkin’s attorneys had not filed their witness list and subpoenas in accordance with state election law rules. The judge did not rule on the substance of the fraud claims. Both candidates then proceeded to the June 23 ballot.

Rajkumar had also attempted a bid for New York City Public Advocate in June 2025, losing to incumbent Jumaane Williams with 18.7 percent of the vote.