Gustavo Rivera (born November 19, 1975) is a New York state senator representing the 33rd Senate District, covering the Bronx neighborhoods of

Kingsbridge Heights Kingsbridge Heights is a residential neighborhood geographically located in the northwest Bronx, New York City. Its boundaries are Van Cortlandt Park to the north, Jerome Avenue to the east, Kingsbridge Road to the south, and the Major Deegan Expr ...

Kingsbridge Kingsbridge is a market town and tourist hub in the South Hams district of Devon, England, with a population of 6,116 at the 2011 census. Two electoral wards bear the name of ''Kingsbridge'' (East & North). Their combined population at the ab ...

, Fordham, University Heights,

Van Nest Van Nest is a working-class neighborhood geographically located in the East Bronx section of the Bronx, New York City. Going clockwise, its boundaries are Bronxdale Avenue to the northeast, the Amtrak tracks to the southeast, and Bronx Park to t ...

, Tremont,

East Tremont East Tremont is a residential neighborhood located in the West Bronx, New York City. From the north and moving clockwise, it is bounded by East 180th Street, Southern Boulevard, the Cross-Bronx Expressway and Third Avenue. East Tremont Avenue is ...

, and parts of

Morrisania Morrisania ( ) is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern Bronx, New York City, New York. Its boundaries are the Cross-Bronx Expressway to the north, Crotona-Prospect Avenue to the east, East 161st Street to the south, and Webster Avenue ...

and

Parkchester Parkchester is a planned community and neighborhood originally developed by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and located in the central Bronx, New York City. The immediate surrounding area also takes its name from the complex. Its boundari ...

. First elected in 2010, Rivera is a Democrat.

Background

Rivera was born and raised in

Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico Santurce (, from the Basque ''Santurtzi'' which means Saint George) is a barrio or district in the municipality of San Juan. Its population in 2020 was 69,469. It is also the biggest and most populated of all the barrios in the capital city w ...

. He received a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in political science from the

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and ...

in May 1998. Following graduation, Rivera moved to New York to begin a doctoral program in political science at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He taught courses at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admin ...

until 2002, and served as an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Pace University until his first election in 2010. Rivera has served in politics by serving as

campaign manager {{Political campaigning A campaign manager, campaign chairman, or campaign director is a paid or volunteer individual whose role is to coordinate a political campaign's operations such as fundraising, advertising, polling, getting out the vote (w ...

for politicians such as Phil Reed and his future colleagues Jose M. Serrano and

Andrea Stewart-Cousins Andrea Alice Stewart-Cousins (née Stewart; born September 2, 1950) is an American politician and educator from Yonkers, New York. A member of the Democratic Party, Stewart-Cousins has represented District 35 in the New York State Senate since 2 ...

. In September 2010, he was named one of ''

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually house ...

s "40 under 40" for being a young influential member of New York City politics. As of 2011, Rivera was single and resided in University Heights.

New York Senate

After serving as Director of Outreach under United States Senator

Kirsten Gillibrand Kirsten Elizabeth Gillibrand (; ; born December 9, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from New York since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as member of the U.S. House of R ...

, Rivera decided to run for the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan compo ...

in 2010. The incumbent, Senator

Pedro Espada Jr. Pedro Espada Jr. (born October 20, 1953) is an American convicted felon and former politician. A Democrat, Espada served in the New York Senate. Espada was at the center of a June 2009 power struggle in the State Senate. He was one of two Democr ...

, had long been a staple in Bronx politics. Espada was considered the favorite throughout the election. After a hard fought campaign, Rivera ultimately defeated Espada in the Democratic primary. Espada would later be convicted of embezzlement. In the Senate, Rivera is known as a leading progressive voice. With the Democrats retaking the majority in 2018, Rivera was named Chair of the Senate Health Committee. Rivera has advocated for single-payer health insurance. Rivera is notably in opposition to legislation which seeks to curtail the influence of the Boycott Divest Sanction movement in New York.

References

External links

Official Senate Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rivera, Gustavo 1975 births American politicians of Puerto Rican descent Living people People from Santurce, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican people in New York (state) politics Democratic Party New York (state) state senators University of Puerto Rico alumni Graduate Center, CUNY alumni 21st-century American politicians Politicians from the Bronx Hunter College faculty Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in New York (state)