Julia Salazar: Career Timeline
Julia Salazar's career has moved from campus activism and community organizing into elected office, where she has accumulated a substantial legislative record across housing, criminal justice, climate, and reproductive rights.
Salazar enrolled at Columbia University in 2009, where she studied through 2014 1. During her early years on campus, she was involved in conservative student organizations, including serving as president of Columbia Right to Life and participating in pro-Israel Christian groups such as Christians United for Israel 2. Following a Birthright Israel trip, her political views began shifting, and she became engaged in campus Jewish life and progressive organizing 2.
While at Columbia, Salazar worked as a nanny and housecleaner, jobs she has pointed to as catalysts for her interest in workers' rights and economic justice 2. She organized a tenant group in her own housing block and launched a rent strike to demand improved conditions, marking her first foray into grassroots activism 3.
After college, Salazar joined Jews for Racial and Economic Justice as a staff organizer, where she worked within coalitions to advance criminal justice reforms and police accountability legislation across New York City 3. She also served as an organizer for United Auto Workers Local 2110 1. During this period, she became an active member of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, joining in late 2016 .
In April 2018, Salazar announced her candidacy for the 18th district of the New York State Senate, challenging 16-year incumbent Martin Malave Dilan in the Democratic primary 2. Her campaign gained significant momentum following the June 2018 primary victory of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York's 14th congressional district, which energized the broader progressive and democratic socialist movement in New York 2. On September 13, 2018, Salazar defeated Dilan by a margin of 59 to 41 percent . She ran unopposed in the November 2018 general election and took office on January 1, 2019, becoming the youngest woman elected in the history of the New York State Senate 3.
Upon joining the Senate, Salazar was appointed Chair of the Committee on Women's Issues, a role she held from 2019 through 2020 3. Her first bill to pass into law was the Comprehensive Contraception Coverage Act, which requires health insurance companies to fully cover all FDA-approved forms of contraception without copays 3. In June 2019, she played a critical role in the passage of the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act, a landmark overhaul of New York's rent regulations 3.
In 2020, Salazar won reelection with 86.7 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary and 97.5 percent in the general election 2. That same year, she and her office led efforts to establish a cease-and-desist zone throughout Brooklyn Community Board 5 to protect homeowners from real estate speculation harassment 3.
In March 2021, the New York State Senate passed the HALT Solitary Confinement Act, which Salazar sponsored as its lead Senate sponsor . Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the bill into law in April 2021, limiting segregated confinement in all New York prisons and jails to 15 days and prohibiting it entirely for vulnerable populations . That same year, she sponsored the bill that ended child marriage in New York by raising the age of consent to marry to 18 3.
In 2022, Salazar sponsored legislation to secure additional federal funding for the New York City Housing Authority and to empower public housing residents, which was signed into law 3. She also won her second reelection without facing a primary or general election challenger 8. In 2023, she served as co-prime sponsor of the Build Public Renewables Act, which expanded the New York Power Authority's mandate to develop publicly owned renewable energy resources 9. She was also appointed Chair of the Democratic Steering Committee for the 2023-2024 session 10.
Salazar was appointed Chair of the Senate Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Correction, a position from which she has led legislative hearings and oversight of the state's prison system 3. In April 2024, the Good Cause Eviction law, a bill Salazar had championed since her first term, was signed into law as part of the state budget . She won reelection in November 2024 without opposition in either the Democratic or Working Families Party primaries or the general election 8.
In 2025, Salazar was elevated to the role of Deputy Majority Leader for Senate and Assembly Relations 10. She led the development and passage of the Prison Reform Omnibus Bill, a package of ten bills enacted in response to the killings of Robert Brooks and Messiah Nantwi by corrections officers . Governor Kathy Hochul signed the legislation in December 2025 . She continued to serve as Treasurer for the legislature's Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Caucus and as an active member of the Puerto Rican and Hispanic Task Force 9.
Overview
Julia Salazar's career has moved from campus activism and community organizing into elected office, where she has accumulated a substantial legislative record across housing, criminal justice, climate, and reproductive rights.
Salazar enrolled at Columbia University in 2009, where she studied through 2014 1. During her early years on campus, she was involved in conservative student organizations, including serving as president of Columbia Right to Life and participating in pro-Israel Christian groups such as Christians United for Israel 2. Following a Birthright Israel trip, her political views began shifting, and she became engaged in campus Jewish life and progressive organizing 2.
While at Columbia, Salazar worked as a nanny and housecleaner, jobs she has pointed to as catalysts for her interest in workers' rights and economic justice 2. She organized a tenant group in her own housing block and launched a rent strike to demand improved conditions, marking her first foray into grassroots activism 3.
After college, Salazar joined Jews for Racial and Economic Justice as a staff organizer, where she worked within coalitions to advance criminal justice reforms and police accountability legislation across New York City 3. She also served as an organizer for United Auto Workers Local 2110 1. During this period, she became an active member of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, joining in late 2016 .
In April 2018, Salazar announced her candidacy for the 18th district of the New York State Senate, challenging 16-year incumbent Martin Malave Dilan in the Democratic primary 2. Her campaign gained significant momentum following the June 2018 primary victory of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York's 14th congressional district, which energized the broader progressive and democratic socialist movement in New York 2. On September 13, 2018, Salazar defeated Dilan by a margin of 59 to 41 percent . She ran unopposed in the November 2018 general election and took office on January 1, 2019, becoming the youngest woman elected in the history of the New York State Senate 3.
Upon joining the Senate, Salazar was appointed Chair of the Committee on Women's Issues, a role she held from 2019 through 2020 3. Her first bill to pass into law was the Comprehensive Contraception Coverage Act, which requires health insurance companies to fully cover all FDA-approved forms of contraception without copays 3. In June 2019, she played a critical role in the passage of the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act, a landmark overhaul of New York's rent regulations 3.
In 2020, Salazar won reelection with 86.7 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary and 97.5 percent in the general election 2. That same year, she and her office led efforts to establish a cease-and-desist zone throughout Brooklyn Community Board 5 to protect homeowners from real estate speculation harassment 3.
In March 2021, the New York State Senate passed the HALT Solitary Confinement Act, which Salazar sponsored as its lead Senate sponsor . Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the bill into law in April 2021, limiting segregated confinement in all New York prisons and jails to 15 days and prohibiting it entirely for vulnerable populations . That same year, she sponsored the bill that ended child marriage in New York by raising the age of consent to marry to 18 3.
In 2022, Salazar sponsored legislation to secure additional federal funding for the New York City Housing Authority and to empower public housing residents, which was signed into law 3. She also won her second reelection without facing a primary or general election challenger 8. In 2023, she served as co-prime sponsor of the Build Public Renewables Act, which expanded the New York Power Authority's mandate to develop publicly owned renewable energy resources 9. She was also appointed Chair of the Democratic Steering Committee for the 2023-2024 session 10.
Salazar was appointed Chair of the Senate Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Correction, a position from which she has led legislative hearings and oversight of the state's prison system 3. In April 2024, the Good Cause Eviction law, a bill Salazar had championed since her first term, was signed into law as part of the state budget . She won reelection in November 2024 without opposition in either the Democratic or Working Families Party primaries or the general election 8.
In 2025, Salazar was elevated to the role of Deputy Majority Leader for Senate and Assembly Relations 10. She led the development and passage of the Prison Reform Omnibus Bill, a package of ten bills enacted in response to the killings of Robert Brooks and Messiah Nantwi by corrections officers . Governor Kathy Hochul signed the legislation in December 2025 . She continued to serve as Treasurer for the legislature's Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Caucus and as an active member of the Puerto Rican and Hispanic Task Force 9.