A state senator from Queens moved to stop a major casino proposal in her district on Tuesday, defying Steven A. Cohen, the billionaire owner of the New York Mets.
The state senator, Jessica Ramos, a progressive Democrat who is considering a run for mayor of New York City next year, said in a statement on Tuesday that she would not introduce legislation to pave the way for a casino at Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The legislation would broaden the permitted uses of a patch of city parkland to include gambling.
Ms. Ramos said that she resented the pressure she had received from the bid to support the proposal after her community had faced “generations of neglect.”
“We want investment and opportunity, we are desperate for green space, and recreation for the whole family,” she said. “We disagree on the premise that we have to accept a casino in our backyard as the trade-off.”
Mr. Cohen, a prominent hedge fund manager whose former firm served as an inspiration for the television series “Billions,” and his partner Hard Rock International, have proposed the $8 billion casino project. A spokeswoman for the bid, Maria Comella, said they respected Ms. Ramos’s point of view, but they were still committed to the casino.
“The state never intended any one person to have the ability to single-handedly stop or approve a gaming project,” Ms. Comella said in a statement, adding, “We are confident that we have the best project in the best location.”
Mr. Cohen and Hard Rock are proposing to build a casino next to Citi Field, the stadium where the Mets play, on parking lots bordering several neighborhoods in Queens. They have promised 25 acres of park space, a new Queens-focused food hall and improvements to the local subway station.
Their proposal is one of at least 11 that developers are expected to submit to the state for approval via a complicated review process that is expected to last through 2025. At stake are up to three licenses for full-fledged casinos in the New York City area, the United States’ last, great untapped gambling market.
The vast team of lobbyists and consultants assembled by Mr. Cohen and Hard Rock could spend much of the next year trying to change Ms. Ramos’s mind or maneuver around her.
The only real workaround in the State Legislature would be for Mr. Cohen and Hard Rock to persuade one of Ms. Ramos’s colleagues to introduce the necessary legislation, but the Legislature typically defers to local lawmakers on issues affecting their districts, and it is considered unlikely that a state senator would break that practice.
Ms. Ramos, whose intentions were first revealed in a lengthy article in New York magazine published early Tuesday, said that she would make an alternative proposal that would permit Mr. Cohen and his partners to build a convention center and hotel on a parcel of land near La Guardia Airport, allowing them to “still make a profit, albeit less.”
Ms. Ramos has been a fierce critic of Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who is running for re-election next June. Mr. Adams is facing a federal criminal investigation into his campaign fund-raising and historically low approval ratings, prompting other Democrats to eye his job.
Already, two Democrats have said they are considering jumping into the race: Zellnor Myrie, a state senator from Brooklyn, and Scott Stringer, a former city comptroller.
Ms. Ramos, who is chair of the Labor Committee in the State Senate, has supported worker-friendly proposals, including raising the minimum wage and linking it to inflation. She has criticized the mayor’s handling of the migrant crisis and his crackdown on campus protests.
Mr. Adams, who served a scandal-tarnished tenure as chair of the State Senate’s Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee, has said that he wants the city to have a casino, but he does not favor any bid over another.
