Eli Northrup helped legalize weed in New York.
Now he's running to represent AD-69 on the Upper West Side.
Manhattan has a nice set of progressive candidates for the 2026 Midterm cycle. There’s Conrad Blackburn up in Harlem, Illapa Sairitupac on the Lower East Side, and Eli Northrup on the Upper West Side. It was a beautiful summer day (humidity was low), and the stretch of Amsterdam Avenue between 102nd and 103rd streets was buzzing with a sea of canvassers and candidates (Jack Schlossberg even made a cameo—the Kennedy’s, they’re just like us!). We met candidate Eli Northrup by a park entrance, where he told us this was the busiest Early Voting location in the district (there’s only four poll sites open during this window).
Assembly district 69 is an old school area of Manhattan, middle-class, and home to some of the most iconic Jewish delis (Barney Greengrass, Anthony Bourdain’s favorite) and diners (Tom’s Restaurant from Seinfeld). It’s also home to Columbia University, one of the largest real estate holders in the City. However, Eli believes that political climate in New York is shifting since Zohran Mamdani’s win, there’s a desire for change, and young people are tapped into local politics for the first time in a long time.
We interviewed Eli in front of a chain link fence, which kids continually kicked the soccer ball against during our conversation, but Eli never flinched, greeting canvassers and neighbors as they passed by. In this conversation, Eli discusses his experience being a policy director for the Bronx Defenders, some of the legislation he’s helped to pen and pass (legalizing weed!), and what lessons we can learn from the Knicks win that can be applied to this Primary.
This interview was conducted by Molly Salas and Melissa Saenz Gordon on June 19th, 2026. It has been edited for length and clarity.
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Interview with Eli Northrup
Hi, I’m Eli Northrop. I’m running for State Assembly in the 69th Assembly District, which is the Upper West Side, Morningside Heights, Manhattan Valley.
Can you share a little bit about your background? And yesterday at the rally at Kings Theater, you mentioned that you’re also in a band?
I’m a public defender. I’ve spent my career representing people in court who can’t afford to pay for an attorney. I work for an organization called the Bronx Defenders. We’re a holistic office, so I represent people in criminal court, but we also represent people in family court, housing court, immigration court. If they come in with a problem, we try to address it. It’s been my life’s work and it’s something I’m very passionate about.
I’m also a policy advocate. I’ve been a policy director for the criminal defense practice at our office for the last number of years, so going up to Albany, writing bills, working to get them passed, organizing coalitions to change our legal system and make it more fair.
And yeah, I’m a huge lover of music. I was in a band for many years and I’m an appreciator of the arts. That’s me.
What do you listen to in the mornings?
Right now I’m listening to a lot of Rosalía and D’Angelo. Those are my go to’s.
Subway or Citi Bike?
Because I’m running for office, it’s up and down this district on the Citi Bike.
Are you a bagel and cream cheese or a bacon, egg and cheese person?
Bagel and cream cheese. We have plenty of good bagel spots up here on the Upper West Side. Right now
it’s 2788 Bagels, which used to be Absolute, and [I order an] egg-everything with scallion cream cheese.
What’s the last show you’ve seen?
I saw Rosalía at the Garden. She’s so inspiring. I think she’s an incredible artist. I don’t think anybody’s doing it like her right now. I was blown away.
This is your second time running for this [Assembly] seat. What’s bringing you back for more and what feels different about this cycle?
When I ran two years ago, you know, I had never run for office before. It was a very new thing for me. I’d done advocacy work and felt like it was important to have good people up there [in Albany]. It was a total learning experience to understand how to raise money and build a coalition.
I wasn’t expecting to have the opportunity to run again this quickly, usually people stay in these seats for a long period of time. Because I’m able to run for the same seat just two years later, I’ve been able to build off of the first campaign and kind of start this one where the first one ended. I’m a better candidate. I learned so much about how to do this and I’m more confident in myself. Also, the city’s a different place. I haven’t had to change who I am or what I believe in at all. There’s so many people inspired by the Mayor’s victory last summer, people are plugged in. They know what an Assembly Member is because he was an Assembly Member and they know that his agenda requires local legislators. So I feel like it’s the right moment for me this time around and I’m very excited to be able to run again.
[Editor’s note: The sitting Assembly Member, Micah Lasher, is running for Congress, so he’s not running for re-election to the Assembly. Eli ran against Micah in 2024.]
As the policy director for the Bronx Defenders, can you share an example of legislation that you helped to pass?
Well the thing that brought me into legislative work was cannabis. When I started working in the Bronx, the number one case that I handled was low-level possession of marijuana. And this was 2015. People were not going to jail at that point, but people would lose their homes, student loans, people had their children taken for them. I had clients who were deported for possessing a single joint. So it was still having these serious impacts. And 90% of the people being arrested for possession of marijuana during that time were Black or brown despite the fact that usage rates were equal across races. Fifty percent of all arrests were in the Bronx.
You had this law on the books that was being enforced disproportionately, and I was told that you could go to Albany to talk to legislators about what you were seeing. I got on a bus, went up to Albany for a lobby day, which I’d never been to before, and started to realize that these people up in the state legislature are the ones that control all of this and became very interested in policy work. So I ended up drafting portions of that bill, which you know we eventually won that legalization a couple years later. [Editor’s note: the Cannabis Law was passed in 2021.]
I’ve worked on changes to the discovery laws, how evidence is provided in New York; to our bail laws, reducing the population of Rikers Island. I’ve worked on sentencing reform, criminal legal system reform measures throughout my career.
In the Assembly, you pass legislation with the State Senate, so your experience may be useful.
It feels relevant. I’m running for [State] Assembly for a reason. I’m not running for City Council, I’m not running for Congress. I’ve spent time doing state legislative advocacy work and understand how Albany functions (or doesn’t function). A lot of important pieces of legislation that impact us on a daily basis happen at the state level. It’s hard to get things done in Washington, but every year the state legislature passes bills that impact us.
What are the vibes like in New York right now?
It’s an amazing time to be in New York right now. There’s a wave that we’ve been riding since last summer. There’s good energy and a desire for generational change within the Democratic Party. People are connecting the dots with local and national stuff. We have a Mayor who’s joyful and positive about the City. And we have young people who are finally excited about the future.
We’ve got the Knicks, we’ve got the World Cup. I love this city. I want to celebrate this city. I want the best for this city. That’s what I’m trying to cultivate with this campaign, which is a campaign of hope and joy and positivity.
Speaking of loving New York, what’s your favorite NYC summer activity?
I’m a cyclist. If I get time (which I have not had over the last few months) I love to ride from here in the Upper West Side to the Rockaways, spend a day out at the beach, and take the ferry back. You get to ride through Brooklyn and it’s an amazing way to see the city. I go to [Jacob] Riis Beach, usually. It’s a beautiful beach.
David Orkin said he also likes riding down to the beach.
Is that right? Let’s go David, my guy! I’ll meet him down there, but it’s a longer ride from here.
NYC has been in a daze of Knicks energy. Are there any lessons that can be learned from their win?
I think there’s a lot that we could take from that victory, a lot that I feel in solidarity with. The Knicks are a gritty team. You got Jalen Brunson who’s this tough, some would say undersized, point guard, but always feels like we have a chance with him.
I’m a public defender, we go up against the odds every single day in court. We’re not favored, but you have to be tough, you have to be gritty, and you have to have a mindset that you’re gonna win, in order to do that work.
When I look at the Knicks and I look at this team, they bring joy, they bring positivity. It shows that New York needs a strong defense, we had it on the court, we should have it in Albany, and you’ll have it with me.