Marjorie Velázquez

After working for several years in accounting and corporate finance, Velázquez suffered serious injures in a 2012 car accident. She joined Bronx Community Board 10 and was elected as a Democratic District Leader for the 82nd Assembly district, a position she still holds.[3]

In 2017, Velázquez ran to succeed term-limited Democrat James Vacca in the 13th district of the New York City Council.[4] With support from Vacca and The New York Times, among others, Velázquez was seen as one of the race's frontrunners.[5]

Velázquez's main opponent in the Democratic primary was Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj, who ran to Velázquez's right and spent over $700,000, a record for a City Council campaign.[6] Velázquez lost the primary by a 38-34% margin, with three other candidates taking the remainder.[7] Soon after, Velázquez indicated she would be back, saying, "Would I ever run again? Most definitely."[8]

Velázquez announced in 2020 that she would seek a 2021 rematch with Gjonaj, citing the repeated scandals Gjonaj found himself combating during his first term.[9][10][11] In February 2021, however, Gjonaj announced he would not seek re-election, saying that the political climate was "not favorable to a centrist ideology that my constituency, community and I embrace."[12]

Now running for an open seat, Velázquez would go on to win the five-way Democratic primary in June 2021. She won the subsequent November 2021 general election with a near-identical 56.3% of the vote and took office in January 2022.[13][14][15][16]

In 2022, Velázquez protested against turning an unused building on Jacobi Medical Center’s campus into housing for ex-convicts with complex medical needs (such as Stage 4 cancer or congestive heart failure).[17] That same year, she also opposed the construction of 349 housing units (168 of which were affordable housing) in Throggs Neck.[18][19][20] She later changed her view, supporting the Throggs Neck development.[20]