The absence of political empowerment and representation in Richmond Hill/Ozone Park's growing economic base was highlighted by the New York Times in an article focusing on the upcoming State Senate battle for control of the state legislature by Democrats and Republicans. Referring to State Senate candidate and lawyer Albert Baldeo's groundbreaking candidacy, and how this district will be the lynch pin that determines whether democrats seize back control of the State Senate  for the first times since 1965, the leading newspaper spotlighted the heavy demographic changes and economic contribution brought by new Americans, such as Guyanese, South Asian, Asian, Caribbean and Latin American immigrants. It also acknowledged how Baldeo almost defeated the long term incumbent State Senator Serphin Maltese, who was unchallenged since 1988, without any institutional backing from the Democratic political machinery, thereby putting this community on the political map as a political and economic force which can no longer be slighted.

The Times reported that the district spans working-class Queens, from Howard Beach in the south to Richmond Hill, now home to Punjabis, Surinamese and West Indians, among others, in the middle to Woodside, a neighborhood long home to the largest Irish community in Queens, which now boasts a sizable Asian population.

In 1990, 83 percent of the district’s residents identified themselves as white, according to census data analyzed by the Queens College department of sociology. By 2000, that number had dropped to 63 percent. The foreign-born population of the district jumped to 39 percent from 29 percent during that time, according to the data, with the largest increase among Hispanics.