Yuh-Line Niou

Yuh-Line Niou (, born July 15, 1983) is an American politician who served as a member of the New York State Assembly for the 65th district.

The Lower Manhattan district, which is heavily Democratic and over 40% Asian American, includes Chinatown, the Financial District, Battery Park City, and the Lower East Side.

Niou is the first Asian American elected to the State Assembly for the district.

She was a candidate for Congress in New York's newly redrawn 10th congressional district in 2022.

Niou was born in Taipei, Taiwan, the eldest of three children, and emigrated to the U.S. with her parents when she was six months old.

Her mother worked as a registered nurse and hospital administrator while her father worked as a materials science engineer.

They were both from Taoyuan, Taiwan.

Her father received a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Oregon Graduate Institute of Science & Technology and worked as a senior research scientist at the University of Texas at El Paso and senior engineer at WaferTech in Camas, Washington for over a decade.

From 2001 to 2010, her father worked as a senior director at Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), a Chinese-state owned company, in Shanghai, China.

Her mother also worked as an assistant director of environment, safety, and health at the company during this time.

She lived in Moscow, Idaho, and El Paso, Texas, before her parents settled in Vancouver, Washington.

She attended and graduated from Columbia River High School.

Niou earned her Bachelor of Arts in social policy from Evergreen State College and worked as a legislative assistant to State Representative Eileen Cody and Senator Debbie Regala of the Washington State Legislature.

She was diagnosed with autism at 22.

She moved to New York City in 2010 to obtain a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from Baruch College, and served as chief of staff to Ron Kim, a member of the New York State Assembly.

Eventually, the garden's nonprofit lost the battle to save the space, which had begun in 2012, prior to Niou's election.

In a 2016 interview, Niou said that she first publicly discussed her autism diagnosis with a group of parents representing Autism Speaks who visited Kim's office.

Niou also worked as a lobbyist in Washington state.

After a corruption scandal involving Sheldon Silver forced his resignation, a special election was held to fill the vacancy in April 2016.

Alice Cancel, an ally of Silver and a local Democratic District leader, ran as the nominee of the Democratic Party, while Niou, with the encouragement of former State Senator Daniel Squadron, ran as the Working Families Party candidate.

Cancel won the special election.

Niou ran for the seat again in the 2016 Democratic primary and won the Democratic nomination in August 2016.

She then won the general election in November 2016 with 76% of the vote.

In 2018 Niou was uncontested in the primary and general elections.

In January 2019, during an assembly hearing regarding the Child Victims Act, Niou recounted her own sexual assault.

The act passed in the state Assembly that day with a vote of 130–3.

In the same year, she voted to ban the possession of firearms on school campuses with the exception of school's police officers and security guards, prohibit the manufacturing, sale, or ownership of untraceable 3D printed firearms, and establish a firearm buyback program in New York.

All bills passed the State Assembly and State Senate and were signed into law by New York's governor Andrew Cuomo.

In 2022, she voted to expand legal protections for abortion providers in New York, prohibit arrests for lawful abortions, and prohibit extradition of abortion providers to other states.

Both bills passed the State Assembly and State Senate and were signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul in June 2022.

As a member of the State Assembly, Niou served as the Chair of the Subcommittee on Catastrophic Natural Disasters that focuses on combating climate change and building a safer New York when disaster strikes, and co-chair of the Asian Pacific American Task Force that focuses on fighting anti-Asian bigotry and hate crimes in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

In December 2021, Niou stated her intention to issue a primary challenge against state Senator Brian P. Kavanagh of New York's 26th State Senate district.

In May 2022, Niou announced she was instead running for Congress in New York's 10th congressional district.

She was endorsed by the Working Families Party, Sunrise Movement NYC, New York Communities for Change, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, State Sen. Julia Salazar, State Assemblymember Ron Kim, Mayor of Boston Michelle Wu, former gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon, former candidate for Manhattan District Attorney Tahanie Aboushi, and dozens of other elected officials, activists, and organizations.

Niou garnered about 1,300 fewer votes than Dan Goldman in the crowded Democratic primary from in-person ballots according to the Associated Press.

While the race was not certified by the New York City Board of Elections until September 14, she conceded the primary on September 6 after most of the remaining absentee ballots had been counted.

In 2020, Grace Lee ran against Niou in the Democratic primary, receiving 35.7% of the vote to Niou's 64%.

Niou was uncontested in the 2020 general election.

Since her election to the New York State Assembly, Niou has prioritized legislation related to consumer protection and tenants rights as well as advocating for increased funding for the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA).

She has also worked to prevent a new housing and office building from being developed on community supported green space, the Elizabeth Street Garden.