Nomiki Daphne Konst (born January 27, 1984) is an American journalist, progressive activist,[1] and political commentator who is known for her work on The Young Turks and Our Revolution.[2][3] In 2019, Konst was a candidate for New York City Public Advocate. She was a candidate in the Democratic primaries of the 2022 New York State Senate election, for the 59th district, scheduled on August 23, 2022; she eventually dropped out and endorsed her former opponent, Kristen Gonzalez.
Nomiki Konst | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Nomiki Daphne Konst January 27, 1984 |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2012–present |
Early life and education
Konst was born in Tucson, Arizona, and as a child she moved with her family to Buffalo, New York. Her mother was a legislator in Erie County, New York, and also served as a "Commissioner of Economic Development".[4] All four of her grandparents were Greek. Her paternal grandfather (whose surname was Κωνσταντάκης [Konstantákis]) is from Cephalonia, her paternal grandmother was from Kalymnos and her maternal grandparents were members of the ethnic Greek minority in southern Albania.[5]
Politics
Konst served as a national co-chair on Barack Obama's 2012 presidential re-election campaign.[6] In 2012, Konst announced her intention to run for Arizona's 2nd congressional district,[7] but withdrew prior to the primaries.[8] In 2016, she was a national surrogate for Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign[6] and she served on the Democratic National Convention's platform committee.[9] After the 2016 Democratic National Convention, she served on the party's Unity Reform Commission,[10] which reviewed the party's nominating process.[11] Konst also worked for Our Revolution, a progressive political action organization and offshoot of the Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign.[12] She was also appointed as a national surrogate in Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign.[13]
In 2018, Konst announced her candidacy in the 2019 New York City Public Advocate special election.[6][14] Politico described her campaign as ambitious; including her proposals to decentralize the role to a representative in every borough, integrate the New York City Department of Investigation into the Advocate's office, and remove the office from the mayoral line of succession.[12]
In June 2022, she announced her intention to run in the Democratic primaries of the 2022 New York State Senate election, for the 59th district; scheduled on August 23, 2022.[8][15] She eventually dropped out and endorsed her former opponent, Kristen Gonzalez.[16]
Activism
In 2011, Konst became an anti-fracking activist, and was involved in a successful campaign to ban fracking in New York.[12]
Konst was a vocal opponent of the Independent Democratic Conference; a group of Democratic New York State senators who routinely sided with Republicans to block progressive agenda items.[6]
In 2019, Konst co-founded Matriarch, a progressive advocacy group dedicated to getting working-class women elected to public office.[17] In 2020, Cori Bush, one of Matriarch's founding members, was elected to the United States House of Representatives.[18]
During her 2019 campaign for New York's Public Advocate office, Konst joined efforts[19] to sink a proposed deal between New York City and Amazon to establish the corporation's headquarters in Queens.
Journalism
In 2012, Konst and journalist Wayne Barrett founded the Accountability Project; a nonprofit investigative journalism outlet.[12]
Konst hosted The Filter, a show on SiriusXM Progress radio.[20] In 2015, she started to upload videos of interviews on her YouTube channel.[21] She also worked for the liberal and progressive show The Young Turks[22] as an investigative reporter until 2018.[23][24]
Konst is currently the host of her own political commentary program, The Nomiki Show.[25] She has regularly appeared on cable news channels as a Democratic political strategist.[12] Konst was a political analyst for CBS News and frequently contributed to CNN and The Majority Report with Sam Seder.[25][26]
