Phara Souffrant Forrest
D · New York State Assembly, District 57 · Tier 5/6
Tier 5/6, between “Critical on most positions” and “Most critical of Israel / supports Palestine”
NYC-DSA assemblymember (AD-57) since 2021; nurse and tenant organizer. Endorsed BDS by name in her own voice in May 2021 — “It is a moral stain on our country and all who live here to have our government and elected officials continue to prop up an Israeli state dedicated to apartheid. We can and must change that. #BDS #FreePalestine” — and the same week shared a map of all of Israel as “historic Palestine,” which she deleted, saying it “led to misunderstandings about my position. My position has always been about peace and justice.” Her October 2023 ceasefire statement opened “In the midst of this devastating conflict, we must remember that every life lost is a tragedy, regardless of nationality or religion,” and called for bringing the hostages home and letting aid into Gaza. She has cosponsored the Not on Our Dime Act in every version since 2023, co-signed the April 2024 Socialists in Office statement naming “the ongoing genocide in Gaza” and “Israeli apartheid,” and calls it a genocide in her own voice.
Held at 5/6: a position questioning Israel’s legitimacy as a Jewish state, on a thin record, with hedging around it. Her May 2021 post backed BDS by name in her own voice, and she has never retracted it — but apart from a 2020 DSA questionnaire answer that her primary opponent reported as backing BDS, it is the only such statement on her record. The “historic Palestine” map was withdrawn the next day in “peace and justice” terms, and her October 2023 ceasefire statement spoke of “this devastating conflict” and the hostages without the word genocide, which appears in a statement she co-signed in April 2024 and in her own voice in 2026. Her sustained record is measures rather than stance — Not on Our Dime in every version since 2023 and the April 2024 Socialists in Office statement — strong Tier 5 work that doesn’t question Israel’s legitimacy. A clean 6 needs that position backed by real leadership or sustained activism, with no hedging. The case for 6: she posted #BDS as a sitting legislator and never took it back.
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elect26 places 2026 midterm candidates on a six-tier spectrum, from 1 (most pro-Israel) to 6 (most critical of Israel).