Republican Connor Dunleavy, who is challenging longtime Democratic incumbent Chuck Lavine for New York’s 13th Assembly District seat in Nassau County, says Lavine bears responsibility for a bill that would remove the words “mother” and “father” from state law.
Dunleavy made the case Saturday during an appearance on Breitbart News Saturday with host Matt Boyle. He said Lavine, who chairs the Assembly Judiciary Committee, moved the legislation out of committee and onto the floor, where it passed with the chamber’s Democrat supermajority.
“He is responsible for allowing this bill out of the Judiciary Committee and a lot of other really bad legislation,” Dunleavy said. “Not only is he trying to ban moms and dads and he let that bill out of committee, he brought it to the floor and it passed the Assembly with their Democrat supermajority.”
The bill in question, S9316/A8382A, would replace “mother” with “gestating parent” and “father” with “non-gestating parent” in state family law, and would swap “paternity” for “parentage.” It passed the Assembly in March and the state Senate in June. It now awaits action from Gov. Kathy Hochul, who can sign or veto it.
Dunleavy said Lavine, a Glen Cove Democrat who has held the seat since 2005, is out of step with the district. He also claimed Lavine is the prime sponsor of a separate bill that would prevent parents from objecting to school library material they consider pornographic.
“He is super far-left, and this is not a super far-left district,” Dunleavy said. “He’s passed all sorts of terrible legislation in this state, including things like no cash bail, raise the age where you can’t try minors as adults, no matter how heinous the crime.”
Dunleavy further claimed that Lavine once served as a defense attorney for a man who assassinated a New York City police officer, and said Lavine lost that case. He argued Republican support in the district has grown each election cycle, from roughly 30 percent to the high 40s.
The race unfolds against a broader statewide contest in which Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the Republican candidate for governor, has described the gender-neutral parenting bill as part of a Democrat “war on New York families” and has positioned himself as a check on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The 13th Assembly District lies entirely within New York’s 3rd Congressional District, where Republican Mike LiPetri is seeking a rematch against Rep. Tom Suozzi, a Democrat.
