Nomiki Konst

Last updated

Nomiki Konst
Born
Nomiki Daphne Konst

(1984-01-27) January 27, 1984 (age 40)
Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
Occupations
  • Activist
  • Journalist
  • Political Commentator
Years active2012–present

Nomiki Daphne Konst (born January 27, 1984) is an American journalist, progressive activist, [1] and political commentator who is known for her work on The Young Turks and Our Revolution . [2] [3] In 2019, Konst was a candidate for New York City Public Advocate. She was a candidate in the Democratic primaries of the 2022 New York State Senate election, for the 59th district, scheduled on August 23, 2022; she eventually dropped out and endorsed her former opponent, Kristen Gonzalez.

Contents

Early life and education

Konst was born in Tucson, Arizona, and as a child she moved with her family to Buffalo, New York. Her mother was a legislator in Erie County, New York, and also served as a "Commissioner of Economic Development". [4] All four of her grandparents were Greek. Her paternal grandfather (whose surname was Κωνσταντάκης [Konstantákis]) is from Cephalonia, her paternal grandmother was from Kalymnos and her maternal grandparents were members of the ethnic Greek minority in southern Albania. [5]

Politics

Konst served as a national co-chair on Barack Obama's 2012 presidential re-election campaign. [6] In 2012, Konst announced her intention to run for Arizona's 2nd congressional district, [7] but withdrew prior to the primaries. [8] In 2016, she was a national surrogate for Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign [6] and she served on the Democratic National Convention's platform committee. [9] After the 2016 Democratic National Convention, she served on the party's Unity Reform Commission, [10] which reviewed the party's nominating process. [11] Konst also worked for Our Revolution , a progressive political action organization and offshoot of the Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign. [12] She was also appointed as a national surrogate in Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign. [13]

In 2018, Konst announced her candidacy in the 2019 New York City Public Advocate special election. [6] [14] Politico described her campaign as ambitious; including her proposals to decentralize the role to a representative in every borough, integrate the New York City Department of Investigation into the Advocate's office, and remove the office from the mayoral line of succession. [12]

In June 2022, she announced her intention to run in the Democratic primaries of the 2022 New York State Senate election, for the 59th district; scheduled on August 23, 2022. [8] [15] She eventually dropped out and endorsed her former opponent, Kristen Gonzalez. [16]

Activism

In 2011, Konst became an anti-fracking activist, and was involved in a successful campaign to ban fracking in New York. [12]

Konst was a vocal opponent of the Independent Democratic Conference; a group of Democratic New York State senators who routinely sided with Republicans to block progressive agenda items. [6]

In 2019, Konst co-founded Matriarch, a progressive advocacy group dedicated to getting working-class women elected to public office. [17] In 2020, Cori Bush, one of Matriarch's founding members, was elected to the United States House of Representatives. [18]

During her 2019 campaign for New York's Public Advocate office, Konst joined efforts [19] to sink a proposed deal between New York City and Amazon to establish the corporation's headquarters in Queens.

Journalism

In 2012, Konst and journalist Wayne Barrett founded the Accountability Project, a nonprofit investigative journalism outlet. [12]

Konst hosted The Filter, a show on SiriusXM Progress radio. [20] In 2015, she started uploading videos of interviews on her YouTube channel. [21] She also worked for the liberal and progressive show The Young Turks [22] as an investigative reporter until 2018. [23] [24]

Konst was a co-host on Rising at The Hill, where she provided political analysis and commentary. [25] [26]

Konst is currently the host of her own political commentary program, The Nomiki Show, [27] and has contributed to several news outlets, including CBS News and CNN. She is also a frequent guest on progressive political shows, such as The Majority Report with Sam Seder . [28] [29]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernie Sanders</span> American politician and activist (born 1941)

Bernard Sanders is an American politician and activist who is the senior United States senator from Vermont. Sanders is the longest-serving independent in U.S. congressional history, but maintains a close relationship with the Democratic Party, having caucused with House and Senate Democrats for most of his congressional career and sought the party's presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Working Families Party</span> Political party in the United States

The Working Families Party (WFP) is a progressive minor political party in the United States, founded in New York in 1998. There are active chapters in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nina Turner</span> American politician from Ohio (born 1967)

Nina Hudson Turner is an American politician, and television personality. A member of the Democratic Party, she was a Cleveland City Council member from 2006 to 2008 and a member of the Ohio Senate from 2008 until 2014. Turner was the Democratic nominee for Ohio Secretary of State in 2014, but lost in the general election against incumbent Jon Husted, receiving 35.5 percent of the vote. A self-described democratic socialist, her politics have been variously described as progressive, left-wing, or far-left.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries</span> Selection of the Democratic Party nominee

Presidential primaries and caucuses were organized by the Democratic Party to select the 4,051 delegates to the 2016 Democratic National Convention held July 25–28 and determine the nominee for President in the 2016 United States presidential election. The elections took place within all fifty U.S. states, the District of Columbia, five U.S. territories, and Democrats Abroad and occurred between February 1 and June 14, 2016. Between 2008 and 2020, this was the only Democratic Party primary in which the nominee had never been nor had ever become President of the United States. This was the first time the Democratic primary had nominated a woman for president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Democratic Socialists of America</span> American political organization

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a big tent, democratic socialist political organization in the United States. After the Socialist Party of America (SPA) was renamed Social Democrats, USA, Michael Harrington formed the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC). The DSOC later merged with the New American Movement (NAM) to form the DSA. The organization is headquartered in New York City and has about 80,000 members. It leads organizing and protest campaigns, and has members in the House of Representatives, state legislatures, and other local offices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zephyr Teachout</span> American academic, political activist and candidate

Zephyr Rain Teachout is an American attorney, author, political candidate, and professor of law specializing in democracy and antitrust at Fordham University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pramila Jayapal</span> American politician (born 1965)

Pramila Jayapal is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from Washington's 7th congressional district since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she represents most of Seattle, as well as some suburban areas of King County. Jayapal represented the 37th legislative district in the Washington State Senate from 2015 to 2017. She is the first Indian-American woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. The district's first female member of Congress, she is also the first Asian American to represent Washington at the federal level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kyle Kulinski</span> American political commentator (born 1988)

Kyle Edward Kulinski is an American political commentator and media host. Kulinski is the host and producer of The Kyle Kulinski Show on his YouTube channel Secular Talk and is a co-host with his wife Krystal Ball on the progressive podcast Krystal Kyle & Friends.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez</span> American politician (born 1989)

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC, is an American politician and activist serving since 2019 as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district. She is a member of the Democratic Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Salazar</span> American politician

Julia Salazar is an American politician and activist. She is the New York State Senator for the 18th district, which covers much of northern Brooklyn, centered on Bushwick. She won the seat as a first-time candidate after unseating incumbent Senator Martin Malave Dilan in the Democratic Party primary in 2018. She attracted national media attention for her support for sex workers' rights and other views. A member of the Democratic Socialists of America, she became the first member of the organization to serve in New York's state legislature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 New York City Public Advocate special election</span>

The 2019 New York City Public Advocate special election was held on February 26, 2019, to fill part of the unexpired term of Letitia James's vacated seat as New York City Public Advocate. It was triggered on January 1, 2019, when James resigned to take office as Attorney General of New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Warren 2020 presidential campaign</span> American political campaign

The 2020 presidential campaign of Elizabeth Warren was a campaign from the senior United States senator from Massachusetts. It began with Warren's formal announcement on February 9, 2019, at a rally in Lawrence, Massachusetts, at the site of the 1912 Bread and Roses Strike. The announcement followed widespread speculation that she would run after supporters urged her to run in the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries. In 2018, Warren had been considered a top contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saikat Chakrabarti</span> American political activist

Saikat Chakrabarti is a political advisor, left-wing activist, and software engineer. He was formerly chief of staff to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the U.S. representative from New York's 14th congressional district representing portions of The Bronx and Queens in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faiz Shakir</span> American political operative

Faiz Shakir is an American Democratic political advisor. He serves as senior advisor to Bernie Sanders and executive director of the nonprofit media organization More Perfect Union. Previously, he was campaign manager for Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign, an aide to Congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, an editor-in-chief of the ThinkProgress blog, and political director of the American Civil Liberties Union. Raised in Florida by Pakistani immigrants, Shakir is a progressive liberal and an advocate for Muslim American communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiffany Cabán</span> American public defender and politician

Tiffany Cabán is an American attorney, politician, and political organizer who has served as a member of the New York City Council for the 22nd District since the 2021 New York City Council election. She won the Democratic primary for the seat after the incumbent, Democrat Costa Constantinides, retired.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Briahna Joy Gray</span> American political consultant (b. 1985)

Briahna Joy Gray is an American political commentator, lawyer, and political consultant. After writing for The Intercept in 2018 she started her political career as the National Press Secretary for the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign. She was the co-host of The Hill's web program Rising from September 2022 to June 7, 2024, when she was fired. She is the host of the Bad Faith podcast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 New York's 14th congressional district election</span>

The 2018 New York's 14th congressional district election was held on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. The primaries for New York's federal elections were held earlier in the year on June 26. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated incumbent congressman Joe Crowley in the primary, and went on to defeat Republican opponent Anthony Pappas in the general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zohran Mamdani</span> Ugandan-Indian-American politician

Zohran Kwame Mamdani is a Ugandan-born American politician. He is the assembly representative for the 36th district of the New York State Assembly, in Queens. Mamdani was elected after defeating incumbent Democrat Aravella Simotas in the 2020 primary. Mamdani is a declared candidate for the November 2025 New York City mayoral election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kristen Gonzalez</span> American politician

Kristen S. Gonzalez is an American politician who is a member of the New York State Senate. A member of the Democratic Party, she represents the 59th district, which contains parts of Queens, Manhattan, and Brooklyn.

References

  1. ↑ "Nomiki Konst". Fox News . Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  2. ↑ Gaudiano, Nicole (August 3, 2016). "Bernie Sanders seeks contributions for 'Our Revolution'". OnPolitics. USA Today . Gannett Company. Archived from the original on June 2, 2018. Retrieved June 2, 2018.
  3. ↑ Hensch, Mark (August 3, 2016). "Sanders fundraising 'to transform American society'". Blog Briefing Room (News). The Hill . Capitol Hill Publishing Corp. Archived from the original on June 2, 2018. Retrieved June 2, 2018.
  4. ↑ "Nomiki Konst: the Face of 2016 Presidential Politics". The National Herald . March 18, 2016. Retrieved July 2, 2022.
  5. ↑ Konst, Nomiki (December 26, 2018). Nομική Κονστ: Νέα, ασυμβίβαστη, Ελληνοαμερικανή υποψήφια συνήγορος του Πολίτη στη Νέα Υόρκη [Nomiki Konst: Young, uncompromising, Greek-American candidate for public advocate in New York City]. HuffPost Greece (text article with embedded video clips of interview, which was conducted in English, with Greek subtitles). Interviewed by Fourlis, Antonis. sec. NOMIKI KONST: ΒΟΡΕΙΟΗΠΕΙΡΩΤΙΣΑ ΚΑΙ ΚΑΛΥΜΝΙΑ...ΣΤΗ ΝΕΑ ΥΟΡΚΗ [NOMIKI KONST: NORTHERN EPIROTE AND KALYMNIAN...IN NEW YORK CITY]. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Gray, Briahna (September 26, 2018). "Democratic Socialist Nomiki Konst Announces Campaign for New York City Public Advocate". The Intercept . Retrieved July 2, 2022.
  7. ↑ McCombs, Brady (February 14, 2012). "Konst, civil discourse group founder, joins congressional race". Arizona Daily Star. Archived from the original on November 9, 2019. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
  8. 1 2 "Nomiki Konst". Ballotpedia . Retrieved July 3, 2022.
  9. ↑ Weigel, David (July 31, 2016). "For one Sanders delegate, a long journey finally comes to an end in Philadelphia". The Washington Post . Retrieved July 3, 2022.
  10. ↑ "Unity Reform Commission Members". Democrats. Retrieved July 3, 2022.
  11. ↑ "Unity Reform Commission". Democrats. Retrieved July 3, 2022.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Rubinstein, Dana; Nahmias, Laura (February 21, 2019). "Who is Nomiki Konst?". Politico . Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  13. ↑ Gruskin, Abigail. "'This Is A Whole New Race'". www.ourtownny.com. Retrieved July 2, 2022.
  14. ↑ Chávez, Aída (December 19, 2018). "Is Jumaane Williams a True Progressive? A Rising Star Makes His Case to Be New York City's Top Watchdog". The Intercept . Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  15. ↑ Murray, Christian (June 2, 2022). "Astoria Progressive Launches Campaign for State Senate Seat, Angers Many Left-Leaning Democrats". Astoria Post. Archived from the original on June 15, 2022. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
  16. ↑ Murray, Christian (August 15, 2022). "Nomiki Konst Drops Out of Race for Senate District 59, Endorses Kristen Gonzalez". Astoria Post. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
  17. ↑ Al-Sibai, Noor (December 22, 2020). "Nomiki Konst Lost Her Race—But is Winning the War". Blue Tent. Retrieved July 2, 2022.
  18. ↑ Gregory Krieg (August 5, 2020). "Lacy Clay defeated by progressive primary challenger Cori Bush, CNN projects". CNN. Retrieved July 3, 2022.
  19. ↑ McNichols, Joshua (December 6, 2018). "Resistance may not be futile as New York politicians join effort against Amazon". www.kuow.org. Retrieved July 2, 2022.
  20. ↑ "Nomiki Konst describes the 'frightening standoff' at Standing Rock". SiriusXM . December 2, 2016. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  21. ↑ Nomiki Konst (December 31, 2014).Fox News Channel O'Reilly Factor Nomiki Konst on YouTube.
  22. ↑ Ellefson, Lindsey (January 20, 2017). "'She's Not a Journalist!': Cop Reportedly Yells At Reporter Covering Demonstration". Mediaite . Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  23. ↑ Freedlander, David (February 19, 2019). "The obscure, overcrowded election that could change New York City politics" . Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  24. ↑ "Young Turks Sheds Senior Employees in Staff Shakeup". TheWrap. June 14, 2018. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
  25. ↑ "Rising: September 24, 2024" . Retrieved September 24, 2024.
  26. ↑ "Politico 2019 Nomiki Konst Remarkable Life" . Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  27. ↑ "The Nomiki Show YouTube Channel". YouTube . Retrieved October 31, 2020.
  28. ↑ "Nomiki Konst – SheSource Expert – Women's Media Center". womensmediacenter.com. Retrieved July 2, 2022.
  29. ↑ "CBSN Political Analyst Nomiki Konst". cbs.com. Retrieved July 2, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.