Jessica Scarcella-Spanton is an American politician serving as a member of 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 com ...

for the 23rd district. Her district encompasses most of the North Shore of

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

, alongside parts of some southern

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.

Early life and education

Scarcella-Spanton was born and raised in

. Both her parents were schoolteachers, and her father was a leader of the local chapter of the

United Federation of Teachers The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) is the labor union that represents most teachers in New York City public schools. , there were about 118,000 in-service teachers and 17,000 paraprofessional educators in the union, as well as about 54,000 ...

. She attended the

College of Staten Island The College of Staten Island (CSI) is a public university in Staten Island, New York. It is one of the 11 four-year senior colleges within the City University of New York system. Programs in the liberal arts and sciences and professional studi ...

from 2007 to 2011, where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science.

Career

Scarcella-Spanton's involvement in politics began in 2009, when she was an intern for Janele Hyer-Spencer. The following year, she worked as a campaign aid for Hyer-Spencer during her reelection campaign. In 2012, Scarcella-Spanton worked as a deputy field coordinator for Democrat Mark Murphy's congressional campaign and as an executive director for the Democratic Committee of Richmond County. In 2015, following her return to Staten Island, Scarcella-Spanton served as volunteer coordinator for the first election campaign of Richmond County District Attorney

Michael McMahon Michael E. McMahon (born September 12, 1957) is an American politician and attorney serving as the District Attorney for Richmond County, which is coextensive with Staten Island. A member of the Democratic Party, McMahon is a former U.S. Repre ...

. Beginning in 2017, Scarcella-Spanton was hired as director of operations for former State Senator

Diane Savino Diane J. Savino (born September 28, 1963) is an American Democratic politician who represented the 23rd Senate District in the New York State Senate, in northern Staten Island and parts of southern Brooklyn, including Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, ...

. From 2021 to 2022, she served as assistant director of the

Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in th ...

for community and government relations. After Savino declared that she would not seek reelection, Scarcella-Spanton declared her intent to run for the seat. On November 8, 2022, she defeated Republican candidate Joseph L. Tirone Jr in the general election. She was sworn in on January 5, 2023.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scarcella-Spanton, Jessica Democratic Party New York (state) state senators Women state legislators in New York (state) Politicians from Staten Island College of Staten Island alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people