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Upper East Side Mom Wins Assembly Seat

By  Heather Holland and Julie  Shapiro | November 5, 2014 8:53am 

 Rebecca Seawright, an Upper East Side mom who was elected assemblywoman in the 76th District, said she is most concerned about public education.
Rebecca Seawright, an Upper East Side mom who was elected assemblywoman in the 76th District, said she is most concerned about public education.
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DNAinfo/Sybile Penhirin

MANHATTAN — A PTA mom who campaigned on improving public education easily won an Upper East Side race for state Assembly on Tuesday. 

Rebecca Seawright, a mother of two and a Democrat, beat her Republican opponent David Garland with 67 percent of the vote, according to preliminary results from the Board of Elections.

She will represent the 76th Assembly District, a seat formerly held by Micah Kellner whose office was shut down after he was accused of sexual harassment.

"The true winners of yesterday's election are the people of the Upper East Side, Yorkville and Roosevelt Island," Seawright said in a statement Wednesday morning.

"For they are now assured that the coalition we put together will fight for their interests on every conceivable level with determination and persistence. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to serve the people of the 76th District so that we may ensure that the voice of our community is both heard and listened to in Albany and wherever reforms are needed in State government."

Seawright, a first-time candidate, won a four-way Democratic primary for the Assembly seat earlier this fall, after campaigning on the importance of public education.

Once she arrives in the Assembly, she plans to push for greater transparency in state government and will hold hearings on local issues like the controversial waterfront garbage station the city is building on East 91st Street, she said.

Seawright also hopes to open new middle schools in the district and to secure funding to decrease class size.

She is the first woman to represent the 76th Assembly District, which covers Third Avenue to the East River from 61st to 92nd streets, as well as Roosevelt Island.

Seawright serves as the chairwoman of the Feminist Press and the Law School Board of Visitors of CUNY.