She won the seat as a first-time candidate after unseating incumbent Senator Martin Malave Dilan in the Democratic Party primary in 2018.

[6] While attending college, Salazar worked as a nanny for four years on the Upper West Side and as a housecleaner,[16][17][18] and in combination with her study of Middle Eastern history this led her to become more class-conscious.

[10] She began as an activist by organizing a tenant group[17][19][20][21] with which she launched a rent strike against poor conditions in her housing block.

[9] Her campaign gained significant attention after the primary victory of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York's 14th congressional district.

[25] She supports universal rent control in New York City,[38] decriminalization of sex work,[39][40] Medicare for All, the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and access to abortion services.

Contrasting progressives from democratic socialists, she identifies the former as those offering palliative solutions within capitalism (without advocating for changing the system); however, she highlights the overlap between the two groups in regard to short-term policy goals.

[47][48] Salazar accused Rosen of engaging in "race science" and claimed he had threatened to publish her mother’s personal information if she didn't cooperate.

[49] On September 11, 2018, Salazar accused David Keyes, a spokesperson for then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, of sexual assault, stating she was preempting being outed in a story about to be published by The Daily Caller.