NYC-CC39: Progressive group calls on Democratic City Council candidate (D) to return money from Republican donors

A progressive group supporting Democratic New York City Council Member Shahana Hanif’s campaign in a heated Brooklyn primary is calling on her rival to return contributions from donors who have also donated to President Donald Trump and other Republicans.

The letter, authored by Indivisible Brooklyn, which has endorsed Hanif’s campaign, also notes that one of those donors has a much closer connection to Democratic candidate Maya Kornberg than she previously disclosed.

Kornberg, a senior research fellow at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, told City & State during a December interview that she had “no relationship” with donor Leonard Blavatnik. The Ukrainian-born billionaire has given prolifically to Republicans – and also to Democrats, though the letter focuses on his donations to Trump’s first inauguration committee and legal defense fund, as well as to congressional Republicans last election cycle and in years past.

But in that interview, Kornberg shaded over a close relationship between Blavatnik and her family. According to a 2019 press report included in the Indivisible letter, Blavatnik jointly owned a biotechnology company with Kornberg’s father, Nobel prize-winning chemist Roger Kornberg, seeded with a $20 million investment agreement by Blavatnik’s medical investment company. The new company, which later became Interna Therapeutics, currently lists Roger as its scientific president and Maya Kornberg’s brother as serving as its chief operating officer. Blavatnik and his wife each gave the $1,050 to Kornberg’s campaign last year – the maximum for council campaigns participating in the city’s matching funds program.



https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2025/03/progressive-group-calls-democratic-city-council-candidate-return-money-republican-donors/403860/?oref=csny-category-lander-river