On 7th May, Steven Braines will stand as the Green Party candidate for Green Street East in Newham – campaigning by day, and performing by night as his drag alter ego Sandra Spitz at a sold-out Hustle Wrestling show in East London.
Having wrestled a baseball from Australian pro wrestler Toni Harlow (before having her wig stolen in return) at Hustle Wrestling’s last outing at The Colour Factory, Sandra Spitz, wrestling’s favourite new drag queen, now has an even bigger fight on her hands: getting elected to Newham Council.
Steven Braines says:
“Politics is very much like pro-wrestling as, sadly, all too often the dirtiest players win. I’m here to change that. No matter how hard I fight for my Hustle Wrestling family as Sandra Spitz, I’ll fight even harder for the constituents of Green Street East and Newham as Steven Braines”
Queer owned Hustle wrestling has very much been on a roll recently with 5 wrestlers trained by head honcho Jonny Bailey getting tryouts for the WWE this week, and Hustle’s former champion, Lizzy Rain recently debuting on WWE TV. Sandra might be their most eccentric character yet.
Jilted by her Blackpool magician husband Tony for his new assistant Abraca-Debra, Sandra is lonely but not alone because of a parasitic twin Dawn she ingested in the womb. Armed with a full face of make-up that takes around two minutes to apply, Sandra has built an unlikely celebrity following – among them chart toppers Lana Del Rey, Becky Hill and Atomic Kitten’s Natasha Hamilton, bestselling author Fat Tony, UK Gladiators star Fire, RuPaul’s Drag Race royalty Violet Chachki, avant-garde icon Peaches, Radio 1’s Jaguar, Sarah Story and Danny Howard, through to house and techno heavyweights Eats Everything, Maya Jane Coles and Ellen Allien.
If the list is eclectic, it reflects the range of Sandra’s creator, Steven Braines. Working as a part time journalist whilst at university amongst other jobs, he interviewed the likes of Amy Winehouse and Richard Branson. Steven Braines later graduated with first class honours degree in Psychology and a Masters in Occupational Psychology (with Distinction) from Northumbria University. Steven moved to London working for organisations such as the HFEA and Health Care Commission. He later pivoted into music winning multiple awards at home and abroad with the record label and event series he cofounded HE.SHE.THEY. which centres on diversity and inclusion in the music industry and beyond.
HE.SHE.THEY. took him to stage takeovers with the likes of Coachella, Glastonbury and Ibiza superclubs Pacha and Amnesia. Also working with brands like Apple and Levi’s where he was featured in a campaign across parts of Europe. It was just after this that Steven was nominated for LGBTQIA+ leader of the year at the National Diversity Awards having previously being honoured by Billboard magazine as one of only 3 non American’s to make their Global Queer Music Executives list.
Steven even managed his flatmate KDA to number one on his debut release – knocking One Direction off the top spot, only to be displaced the following week by Adele’s Hello. Indeed, as an artist manager his artists have toured across 50 countries, accumulating hit records, awards and Grammy nominations along the way. He even managed to get Tricky to be Beyonce’s only guest at Glastonbury but that’s a story for another day…
After a life of supporting Labour, and a momentary flirtation with Your Party before it somewhat self destructed at inception, Steven found his political home after meeting London Green Party co-leader Zack Polanski at a fundraiser where his partner, DJ Bradley Skeng, was performing. Two weeks later, he interviewed Zack at the NTES 2026 conference in Liverpool in his capacity as board member of the NTIA. Impressed by Zack and his team, Steven threw his hat into the ring, just a political one this time.
Sandra’s also making her stand up debut at London’s seminal The Comedy Store on 21st June but Steven assures his candidacy is not a joke.
He adds:
“It’s going to take a huge swing from Labour for me to win this seat but I’m proud that the Green’s are competing for more seats than ever before in the elections. Whatever happens I’ll still support my community and my party. Both Green Street East and the country deserves far better than they are being given by the Labour Party. It’s time for change, for hope not hate, it’s time for the Greens”.
