Karim Camara (born June 3, 1971) is an American pastor and former Democratic 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 ...

, where he represented the 43rd Assembly District which includes parts of the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Crown Heights, Lefferts Gardens and East Flatbush. He is the founding and senior pastor of the Abundant Life Church in Brooklyn and was previously the executive pastor of First Baptist Church of Crown Heights. He was also the New York State Faith Director for the then-U.S. Senator

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

's 2008 presidential campaign. He was first elected to the State Assembly in a November 2005 special election to replace Clarence Norman Jr. In February 2015, he vacated his seat to become executive director of the Office of Faith-Based Community Development.

Early life and education

A native 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 ...

, Camara (born Karim Abdur-Razzaq) spent most of his childhood in

Crown Heights, Brooklyn Crown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Crown Heights is bounded by Washington Avenue to the west, Atlantic Avenue to the north, Ralph Avenue to the east, and Empire Boulevard/East New Yo ...

which is in the Assembly District he now represents. He also spent formative years both in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

and on a farm in

Westtown, New York Westtown is a hamlet in Orange County, in the U.S. state of New York. It is located along New York State Route 284 north of Unionville and Minisink, and north of the New Jersey state border. History A post office called was established in 1816, ...

(

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

). He graduated from

Brooklyn Friends School Brooklyn Friends School is a school at 375 Pearl Street in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. Brooklyn Friends School (BFS) is an independent, college preparatory Quaker school serving a culturally diverse educational community of approximately 90 ...

in 1988. He went on to attain his B.A. in

English Literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

and

Chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

from

Xavier University of Louisiana Xavier University of Louisiana (also known as XULA) is a Private university, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Roman Catholic, Catholic university in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the only Catholic HBCU ...

and a

Masters of Divinity For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and di ...

from the

New York Theological Seminary The New York Theological Seminary (NYTS) is a private non-denominational Christian seminary in New York City. It was founded in 1900 as the Bible Teacher's College. In 2019, Rev. LaKeesha Walrond was appointed as the first woman and the first Af ...

Early career and personal life

He was the fundraising director for the Cush Campus Schools in

, of which his mother is a founder and the principal. Camara resides in

with his wife, Orelia E. Merchant, an assistant U.S. Attorney and their two children.

Election results

* November 2005 special election, NYS Assembly, 43rd AD : * November 2006

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 ( ...

, NYS Assembly, 43rd AD : * November 2008

, NYS Assembly, 43rd AD : * November 2010

, NYS Assembly, 43rd AD :

References

External links

KarimCamara.comKarimCamara.orgPastorKarimCamara.orgBrooklyn Star on Camara's State of the District
{{DEFAULTSORT:Camara, Karim 1971 births Living people African-American state legislators in New York (state) African-American Baptist ministers Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly New York Theological Seminary alumni People from Crown Heights, Brooklyn Xavier University of Louisiana alumni 20th-century Baptist ministers from the United States 2012 United States presidential electors 21st-century American politicians Baptists from New York (state) Brooklyn Friends School alumni 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American politicians