Michael Novakhov

Michael "Misha" Novakhov is an American radio host and politician who serves as a member of the New York State Assembly from the 45th district. Prior to being elected, he worked as a host on the Russian-language radio station FreedomFM.[1][2][3]

Michael Novakhov
Member of the New York State Assembly
from the 45th district
Assumed office
January 1, 2023
Preceded bySteven Cymbrowitz
Personal details
BornBaku, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union (now Azerbaijan)
Political partyRepublican
ResidenceManhattan Beach, Brooklyn

Personal life

Novakhov described that he was "born under Communist rule within the former USSR" and that "his father was fortunate enough to escape along with Michael and the rest of his family to America".[1] According to a bio on the FreedomFM website, his Soviet passport showed "Baku" as his place of birth and "Ukrainian" as his nationality, indicating that he has at least one ethnic Ukrainian parent.[4][5][6] In an interview with The Jewish Press, he called himself a "secular Jew".[7]

He lives in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn.[8]

Career

According to his campaign website, Novakov worked in the radio business since 2003.[1] In 2019, he opened "Freedom FM", a Russian-language radio station in Brooklyn where he served as a host.[9][10]

In the November 2022, Novakhov defeated incumbent assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz by 19 percentage points.[11] Novakhov made headlines when he introduced bill A.7612, which, if passed, would outlaw public smoking of Marijuana, citing "both the nuisance created by the smoke and the potential health hazards of second-hand smoke." His proposed bill would largely treat Marijuana smoking like Tobacco smoking, which is banned in Public places in New York City, but the ban is rarely enforced.[12][13]

Electoral history
2022 New York State Assembly election, District 45[14]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Michael Novakhov 12,936
Conservative Michael Novakhov 821
Total Michael Novakhov 13,757 59.7
Democratic Steven Cymbrowitz 8,451
Independence Steven Cymbrowitz 807
Total Steven Cymbrowitz 9,258 40.2
Write-in 16 0.1
Total votes 23,031 100.0
Republican gain from Democratic

References
  1. "HOME". Michael for Assembly. Retrieved 2023-01-02.
  2. Campanile, Carl; Hogan, Bernadette (2022-11-11). "Republicans wipe out moderate Democrats in NY red surge". Retrieved 2023-01-02.
  3. "Michael Novakhov - Assembly District 45 | New York State Assembly". www.assembly.state.ny.us. Retrieved 2023-01-02.
  4. "Михаил Новахов". Freedom FM 104.7 FM New York (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-01-02.
  5. "Why Are Jews from the Former Soviet Union Often Called Russians? | Jewish Federation of the Berkshires". www.jewishberkshires.org. Retrieved 2023-01-02. Every Soviet-era passport had a line that read "Nationality." This is how things worked: When a person in the Soviet Union reached the age of 16, they had to choose a nationality based on their parents' nationalities. If the young person's father and mother had same nationality, that would be their nationality. If their parents' nationalities were different, a young person could choose one: for example, Russian, Moldovan, Armenian, Jewish, and so forth. This nationality was written in your passport in the 5th position (Пятый пункт in Russian).
  6. Kogan, Yefim. "Why Jews from the Former Soviet Union Often Called Russians?" (PDF). JewishGen. After immigrating to the United States, we have discovered that the term Nationality has a different meaning here if compared to what we knew in the Soviet Union. There nationalities were written in passports and they meant what we call in the US – Ethnicity. When a person reached 16 year, he or she could choose Nationality from Nationalities of their parents. If father and mother had same Nationality, that would be Nationality of a young person. Nationality was Russian, Moldovan, Armenian, Jewish, etc. Nationality was written in your passport in the 5th paragraph (Пятый пункт-Russian).
  7. Gronich, Marc (7 December 2022). "State Election Results Still Not Final". Retrieved 2023-01-02.
  8. "The new state lawmakers in the 2023 legislative session". City & State NY. 19 December 2022. Retrieved 2023-01-02.
  9. Borchardt, Reuvain (2022-11-29). "A Red Pocket Grows in Brooklyn - Hamodia.com". Hamodia. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
  10. "Russian radio station in NYC gets buzz from unique classified ad show". News 12 - Brooklyn. July 19, 2019. Retrieved 2023-01-02.
  11. Scarr, Cindy (2022-11-09). "No Red Wave, but Definitely a Black One". Mishpacha Magazine. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
  12. Whittaker, John. "Bill to limit public marijuana smoking faces uphill battle". The New York Observer. Retrieved 5 August 2023.
  13. Reisman, Nick. "New York Republicans want to ban cannabis use in public". NY1. Retrieved 5 August 2023.
  14. "General Election 2022 - Member of the Assembly - 45th Assembly District" (PDF). New York City Board of Elections. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
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