Carlos Menchaca (born September 11, 1980) is an American politician who served as a member of the

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five Borough (New York City), boroughs. The council serves as a check against the Mayor of New York City, mayor in a may ...

for the 38th district. He is a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

. His district included the

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

neighborhoods of Sunset Park, Red Hook, Greenwood Heights, and portions of Borough Park,

Dyker Heights Dyker Heights is a predominantly residential neighborhood in the southwest corner of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. It is on a hill between Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Borough Park, and Gravesend Bay. The neighborhood is bounded by 7th and ...

, and Windsor Terrace. In October 2020, Menchaca declared his candidacy in the 2021 New York City Democratic mayoral primary, but suspended his campaign in March 2021, three months before the primary.

Early life and education

Menchaca was born and raised in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

. The first in his family to attend college, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hil ...

, where he studied performing arts and social justice.

Career

Prior to assuming office, Menchaca worked in the Brooklyn Borough President's Office, as

Marty Markowitz Martin Markowitz (born February 14, 1945) is an American politician who served as the borough president of Brooklyn, New York City. He was first elected in 2001 after serving 23 years as a New York State Senator. His third and final term ended ...

’s Capital Budget and Policy Coordinator from 2005 to 2011. From 2011 to 2013, Menchaca served as a liaison to the LGBT and HIV/AIDS community for the Office of the Speaker in the New York City Council. Menchaca, along with Councilman

Brad Lander Bradford S. Lander (born July 8, 1969) is an American politician, urban planner, and community organizer who currently serves as the New York City Comptroller. A member of the Democratic Party, Lander is a progressive politician, and has been d ...

, was arrested in January of 2015 at a rally for carwash workers.

New York City Council

In the 2013 election, Menchaca defeated incumbent Sara M. Gonzalez in the Democratic primary for

District 38 A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

in the

, which includes a portion of

. He won the seat in the general election on November 5, 2013. Upon his election, Menchaca became the first

Mexican-American Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...

elected to public office in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and the first openly gay New York City Council member from Brooklyn. Menchaca has been criticized for derailing redevelopment of the

South Brooklyn Marine Terminal The South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT) is an intermodal shipping, warehousing, and manufacturing complex in the Port of New York and New Jersey. It is located along the Upper New York Bay, between 29th and 39th Streets in the Sunset Park and ...

. In July 2020, Menchaca said he "strongly opposes" plans to rezone and redevelop

Industry City Industry City (also Bush Terminal) is a historic intermodal shipping, warehousing, and manufacturing complex on the Upper New York Bay waterfront in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. The northern portion, commonly cal ...

. Due to City Council customs, Menchaca had the power to effectively end the project. Menchaca chaired the Immigration Committee in the City Council and serves on the following committees: Recovery & Resiliency, Small Business, Standards & Ethics, General Welfare, and Transportation. He formerly served as the Chairman of the Brooklyn Council delegation.

2021 mayoral campaign

On October 9, 2020, Menchaca registered a campaign with the

New York City Campaign Finance Board The New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB) is an independent New York City agency that serves to provide campaign finance information to the public, enable more citizens to run for office by granting public matching funds, increase voter part ...

and released a statement on social media about a potential run for mayor in the 2021 New York City Democratic mayoral primary. On October 22, he posted a video on his Twitter account officially announcing his candidacy for mayor. As of mid-January 2021, Menchaca had raised approximately $62,000 from donors, spent $48,000 on his campaign, and had about $14,500 left. Menchaca ended his campaign on March 24, 2021 and later endorsed

Andrew Yang Andrew Yang (born January 13, 1975) is an American businessman, attorney, lobbyist, and politician. Yang was a candidate in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries and the 2021 New York City Democratic mayoral primary. He is the co-c ...

for Mayor.

Election results

References

External links

Carlos Menchaca - New York City Council

Carlos Menchaca on Twitter

Carlos Menchaca on Instagram

Endorsement
by the

Victory Fund The LGBTQ Victory Fund (formerly the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund), commonly shortened to Victory Fund, is an American political action committee dedicated to increasing the number of openly LGBTQ public officials in the United States. Victory F ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Menchaca, Carlos Gay politicians LGBT city councillors from the United States People from El Paso, Texas American politicians of Mexican descent LGBT people from New York (state) New York City Council members 1980 births LGBT Hispanic and Latino American people LGBT people from Texas Living people 21st-century American politicians New York (state) Democrats 21st-century LGBT people Candidates in the 2021 United States elections