PERSON: Ritchie Torres

U.S. House of Representatives

Member of Congress

Ritchie John Torres (born March 12, 1988) is an American politician from New York. A member of the Democratic Party, Torres is the U.S. representative for New York’s 15th congressional district. The district covers most of the South Bronx and is, by one measure, the poorest congressional district in the United States, as well as one of the smallest districts by area in the country, covering only a few square miles.

Torres served as the New York City Council member for the 15th district from 2013 to 2020. He was the first openly gay candidate to be elected to legislative office in The Bronx, and the council’s youngest member. Torres chaired the Committee on Public Housing and was a deputy majority leader. As chair of the Oversight and Investigations Committee he focused on predatory lending associated with taxi medallion procurement and the city’s Third Party Transfer Program. In 2016, Torres was a delegate for the Bernie Sanders campaign.

In July 2019, Torres announced his bid for New York’s 15th congressional district to succeed Representative José E. Serrano. The district is one of the most Democratic-leaning congressional districts in the country. Torres won the November 2020 general election and assumed office on January 3, 2021. This made him and Mondaire Jones the first openly gay Black men elected to Congress. It also made Torres the first openly gay Afro-Latino elected to Congress. Torres was one of nine co-chairs of the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus in the 117th United States Congress.

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