Jonathan D. Rivera is an American politician who is a member of the

New York State 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. The Assem ...

for the 149th district. Elected in 2020, he assumed office on January 1, 2021.

Early life and education

Rivera was born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from

Buffalo State College The State University of New York College at Buffalo (colloquially referred to as Buffalo State College, SUNY Buffalo State, Buffalo State, or simply Buff State) is a public college in Buffalo, New York. It is part of the State University of Ne ...

and working on a Master of Science in political management from

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

Career

Prior to his campaign for

, Rivera worked as an administrator for Erie County Public Works. Rivera also works as a liaison to the Erie County Legislature and was a field representative for Congressman

Brian Higgins Brian Michael Higgins (born October 6, 1959) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for , serving since 2005. The district, numbered as the 27th district from 2005 to 2013 but as the 26th since 2013, includes Buffalo and N ...

from 2005 to 2007. In December 2019, Rivera declared his candidacy for district 149 in the State Assembly. He placed first in the

Democratic primary This is a list of Democratic Party presidential primaries. 1912 This was the first time that candidates were chosen through primaries. New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson ran to become the nominee, and faced the opposition of Speaker of the Uni ...

and defeated Republican nominee Joseph Totaro in the November general election.

References

, - Politicians from Buffalo, New York People from Erie County, New York Buffalo State College alumni George Washington University alumni Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in New York (state) Living people 1986 births {{NewYork-politician-stub