Anna Kelles is a Public Health scientist by training and a lifelong advocate for environmental and human rights.  She is a second-term New York State Assemblymember for NY district 125, representing both Tompkins County and southwest Cortland County. 

Anna’s public service is driven by her deep connection to the people of the Southern Tier and her desire to preserve our natural habitat, rich with lakes, wetlands, farms, and forests. She knows that good governance is NOT about business deals and transactions. It’s about governing fairly, so everyone gets what they need to reach their full potential, and the planet is honored and sustained. That’s what she fights for each day in Albany.

Anna grew up in Trumansburg, NY, studied Biology and Environmental Science at Binghamton University, and after years working in the Amazon as an ecological guide and high school teacher, earned a PhD in Nutritional Epidemiology at The University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill.

Anna has raised national and international attention to the environmental harms of proof-of-work cryptomining, and is elevating New York State as a world leader in environmental and labor rights accountability in the fashion industry. She continues to lead as an effective champion for public health, environmental  and equal justice issues including access to affordable housing in walkable communities, expanding access and use of sustainable farming practices, and criminal justice bail, parole, and sentencing reform.

In 2021, Anna led the effort to preserve Bell Station, a stretch of undeveloped land on Cayuga Lake with wooded hillsides, cascading waterfalls, critical bird habitat, and rare threatened plant species. NYSEG canceled its auction of the property and entered into negotiations with the Finger Lakes Land Trust as agent for the NYSDEC.