Anna Kaplan

Anna Kaplan (née Monahemi) (born August 23, 1965; Farsi: آنا کاپلان) is an Iranian-born American attorney and politician. A Democrat, she was a member of the New York State Senate from 2018 to 2022, representing New York's 7th State Senate district on Long Island. Kaplan is the first Iranian-American to be elected to either of New York State's legislative chambers. She is also the first former political refugee to serve in the New York State Senate. Kaplan came to the United States at 13 years of age without her family as a Jewish child refugee from Iran, after the 1979 Islamic Revolution swept Iran. The unaccompanied child refugee was first taken into the care of the Lubavitch community in Crown Heights, Brooklyn for a number of months. She was next sent to live with a foster family in Chicago, Illinois, until over two years later when finally her parents were able to obtain U.S. visas and enter the United States. They moved to Queens, New York, and then to Great Neck, New York. Kaplan graduated with a BS in Biology from the Stern College for Women at Yeshiva University in 1985. She then received her J.D. from the Cardozo School of Law in 1991. She started her political career as a member of the North Hempstead Town Board in 2011, and served until her election to the New York State Senate in 2018.