State Senator Jessica Ramos was one of only five senators to vote against Steve Cohen’s Queens casino. Three days before her June 23 primary, a Delaware company created in mid-May has dropped a record $850,000 into the race to beat her, and her campaign says the money is Cohen’s. If you vote in Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst, Corona, or Elmhurst, this is one of the strangest, most expensive fights in the city.

The fight is over a casino. Mets owner Steve Cohen spent years pushing “Metropolitan Park,” a sprawling casino and entertainment complex on the parking lots next to Citi Field, right in the heart of the district. State Senator Jessica Ramos, whose district it is, fought it. She called casinos predatory, refused to hand over the parkland, and voted against the bill when it reached the floor in May 2025, per QNS. “I’m going to stand on my principle,” she said. But she lost. The casino was approved anyway, clearing its final state hurdle at the Gaming Commission in December 2025, according to the project’s official timeline, with an opening planned for 2030.