Anna Kaplan, state senator District 7 

ANNA KAPLAN

DEMOCRATIC 

BACKGROUND: Kaplan, 53, is running on the Democratic, Working Families and Women’s Equality party lines. Kaplan graduated from the Stern College for Women at Yeshiva University with a bachelor’s degree in biology. She then received a law degree from Cardozo School of Law. In 2011, she was elected as a councilwoman on the North Hempstead Town Board representing the town’s 4th District, which includes Great Neck and Roslyn, among other areas. In 2015, she was re-elected to a second four-year term. A resident of Great Neck, she is married with two children.

ISSUES: If elected, Kaplan said she would work to pass sensible gun laws such as the Red Flag Gun Protection Bill, which would prohibit people determined by a court to have the potential to harm themselves or others from purchasing or possessing a gun. Women’s reproductive rights are also a key priority for Kaplan, who said she supports passing the Reproductive Health Act to codify Roe V. Wade in state law. She said she would also work to bring back more funding for district schools to “level the playing field for as many students as possible so they would benefit from public education which is really the core of this country’s basis.” A political refugee from Iran, Kaplan said that she would like to be the “voice” for her district’s diverse community.