New York City Councilman Kalman Yeger, who represents Borough Park and parts of Midwood, both of which have sizable Haredi populations, told Hamodia on Monday that he will seek election to the state Assembly to represent the 41st district. His announcement came immediately after Assemblymember Helene Weinstein, who currently represents the district, announced that she would retire at the end of this term. According to Hamodia, Weinstein immediately endorsed Yeger as her replacement.

Yeger is a conservative Democrat, in line with most Haredim in New York, who lean conservative in their views but often vote for Democratic candidates. In a statement to Hamodia, Yeger said, “With Senator Simcha Felder and Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein already leading the fight for our community in Albany, I look forward to the opportunity to join them and to make the case to my neighbors for the opportunity to represent all of us in Albany.”

Yeger was previously an aide to Councilman David Greenfield, before succeeding him after Greenfield was term-limited. Greenfield is now CEO at Met Council for Jewish Poverty, and has already endorsed Yeger for the Assembly race. “Nobody understands New York City and New York State government like Kalman Yeger does,” Greenfield told Hamodia.

Weinstein represented the district for 44 years, and has forged close ties with Haredi leaders. She served for many years as the chair of the Ways and Means Committee, a powerful committee that has significant control over which bills make it to the Assembly floor.

Chaskel Bennett, a board member at Agudath Israel, offered Weinstein congratulations on an “extraordinary career,” writing on X, formerly Twitter: “Few, if any, have served their constituents with more respect, effectiveness, and sensitivity. Helene is known far and wide as someone of deep integrity, and we have all been extremely well served by her and her dedicated staff.”

Hamodia is already reporting on the likely candidates to succeed Yeger, which include Senator Simcha Felder, who would return to the Council after being term-limited there before getting elected to the State Senate. Other potential candidates include Pinny Ringel, who is the Jewish Liaison for Mayor Eric Adams and was elected district leader with Adams’s help, pushing out candidate David Schwartz, who was reported to have earned Adams’s wrath for backing Andrew Yang in the mayoral race.

There’s little overlap between Yeger’s Council district and the Assembly district he’ll be running for, but both serve large Orthodox populations. Yeger’s residence is on one of the few blocks located within the small overlap between districts.