Barbara Lifton

Barbara Lifton retired in 2020 after serving for eighteen years in the NYS Assembly, representing Tompkins and part of Cortland County. Barbara was Chair of the Assembly Steering Committee and sat on the Agriculture, Education, Election Law, Environmental Conservation and Higher Education committees. Her most significant legislative achievements include leading on voting reforms and new voting machines, allowing the continuation of midwife-assisted home births, and in the ban on High Volume Hydrofracking. She helped enact the  Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. Before her election, she served  as Chief of Staff to former Assemblymember Marty Luster. She also taught high school English  in both the Geneseo and Ithaca public schools. Barbara resides in Ithaca and has two children and four grandchildren.