RIDGEWOOD, N.Y. In a past life, during the halcyon days before hipsters colonized New York Citys outer boroughs, Costa Constantinides sold toys here in this working-class, immigrant neighborhood in central Queens.

It was a time when the city had more crime but fewer cars . Hometown slumlords werent in the White House, and a deadly superstorm hadnt yet given New Yorkers a taste of the climate catastrophe that now looms.

Yet its that Mad Libs of modern politics that set Constantinides on his current course, which found him back in his old stomping grounds last week knocking on doors in the cold evening drizzle. This time, he was selling something entirely different: himself, as the climate change-focused candidate seeking to be the new Queens borough president.

After serving six years on the City Council representing his native Astoria, a middle-class Mediterranean enclave in western Queens, Constantinides wants to work for the entire borough of 2.3 million people a place that, on its own, would rank as the United States fourth-largest city, slightly behind Chicago and ahead of Houston.

The job of the borough president is generally viewed as a perch for political patronage, but Constantinides is pitching himself as the candidate who cares most about the climate crisis an issue heretofore unheard of in the race for this relatively obscure seat.

Im running to completely transform this office and bring green jobs to Queens, Constantinides, told 31-year-old Franklin Mendez, after knocking on the door of Mendezs second-floor walkup. We can take back control. We can build clean power here, and we can own it ourselves, not let ConEd own it.

Climate populism is an unusual approach for this New York City post to which few outside party machine circles pay attention. Largely a holdover from the late 1800s, when Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island were first fused into one city, the position has long been a way to hand ascendant party power brokers an eight-figure budget to dole out and build a network of support while biding time until a more intriguing electoral slot comes along. (Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is considered a top contender for New York City mayor next year, and Melinda Katz, the most recent Queens borough president, quit her post last year after winning the countys nationally watched district attorney race.)