Diana Richardson (born January 16, 1983) is an American politician who served as a member of the

New York Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits in the United ...

. She was elected on the

Working Families Party The Working Families Party (WFP) is a minor political party in the United States, founded in New York in 1998. There are active chapters in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Nev ...

line in a 2015

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-larges ...

to replace

Karim Camara Karim Camara (born June 3, 1971) is an American pastor and former Democratic member of the New York State Assembly, where he represented the 43rd Assembly District which includes parts of the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Crown Heights, Lefferts ...

in the 43rd district, which comprises the Crown Heights and

Prospect Lefferts Gardens Prospect Lefferts Gardens is a residential neighborhood in the Flatbush area of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The community is bounded by Empire Boulevard (formerly Malbone Street) to the north, Clarkson Avenue to the south, New York A ...

neighborhoods of

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 ...

Early life and education

Richardson was born in Brooklyn, to Caribbean immigrant parents from

Aruba Aruba ( , , ), officially the Country of Aruba ( nl, Land Aruba; pap, Pais Aruba) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands physically located in the mid-south of the Caribbean Sea, about north of the Venezuela peninsula of ...

, and raised in Crown Heights. Richardson has an undergraduate degree in

public administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit establ ...

from

Medgar Evers College Medgar Evers College is a public college in New York City. It is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY), offering baccalaureate and associate degrees. It was officially established in 1970 through cooperation between educator ...

, and a

Master of Public Administration The Master of Public Administration (M.P.Adm., M.P.A., or MPA) is a specialized higher professional post graduate degree in public administration, similar/ equivalent to the Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the issues of ...

from

Baruch College Baruch College (officially the Bernard M. Baruch College) is a public college in New York City. It is a constituent college of the City University of New York system. Named for financier and statesman Bernard M. Baruch, the college operates und ...

, both campuses of the

City University of New York The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven Upper divis ...

Career

Richardson was a

Brooklyn Community Board 9 Brooklyn Community Board 9 is a New York City community board that encompasses the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Crown Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, and Wingate. It is delimited by Ocean Avenue and Flatbush Avenue on the west, Eastern Parkwa ...

member when the Crown Heights Tenant Union, an advocacy organization for tenants that organizes, educations, and helps residents in housing court cases, convinced her to run for an open

seat on an anti-gentrification platform. She won the May 2015 special election, on the

(WFP) ballot line, the first to do so in the state legislature. She also won the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

the following November, on both the Democratic Party line as well as the WFP. In 2016, Richardson was arrested for hitting her 12-year-old son with a broomstick and was charged with assault, endangering the welfare of a child, criminal possession of a weapon and menacing. The felony charge was dropped in April 2017, though she still faced six misdemeanor charges. In 2020, Richardson was pepper-sprayed by the

New York City Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

while marching at a demonstration over the

murder of George Floyd On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's n ...

. Richardson faced a primary challenge in the 2020 elections from

Jesse Hamilton Jesse Hamilton is an American lawyer and politician in New York City. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented the New York State Senate's 20th District, including parts of the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Crown Heights, Brownsville and ...

. She defeated Hamilton in a landslide. In January 2022, Brooklyn Borough President

Antonio Reynoso Antonio Reynoso (born May 9, 1983) is an American politician and community organizer currently serving as Borough president of Brooklyn since 2022. He is a member of the Democratic Party, and was elected Brooklyn borough president in the 2021 e ...

selected Richardson to be the deputy borough president. On October 17, 2022, Richardson was fired for hosting a toxic work environment following a string of staff and constituent complaints about her behavior while working at Borough Hall.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Diana Living people Politicians from Brooklyn Medgar Evers College alumni Baruch College alumni African-American state legislators in New York (state) Working Families Party politicians Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly Women state legislators in New York (state) 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians American people of Aruban descent 1987 births 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women