Roxanne Persaud (born March 1, 1966) is a Guyanese-American politician. She is a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

and a member of the

New York 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 ...

for the 19th district, which includes portions of

Canarsie Canarsie ( ) is a mostly residential neighborhood in the southeastern portion of Brooklyn, New York City. Canarsie is bordered on the east by Fresh Creek Basin and East 108th Street; on the north by Linden Boulevard; on the west by Ralph Aven ...

East New York East New York is a residential neighborhood in the eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are roughly the Cemetery Belt and the Queens borough lin ...

, Brownsville,

Mill Basin Mill Basin is a residential neighborhood in southeastern Brooklyn, New York City. It is on a peninsula abutting Jamaica Bay and is bordered by Avenue U on the northwest and the Mill Basin/Mill Island Inlet on its remaining sides. Mill Basin is ...

Sheepshead Bay Sheepshead, Sheephead, or Sheep's Head, may refer to: Fish * ''Archosargus probatocephalus'', a medium-sized saltwater fish of the Atlantic Ocean * Freshwater drum, ''Aplodinotus grunniens'', a medium-sized freshwater fish of North and Central Am ...

Bergen Beach Bergen Beach is a residential neighborhood in the borough of Brooklyn, New York City. It is located on a peninsula abutting Jamaica Bay in the southeastern portion of the borough, and is bordered by Mill Basin and the neighborhood of the sam ...

, Marine Park, Flatlands, Ocean Hill and

Starrett City Starrett City (formally known as the Spring Creek Towers) is a housing development in the Spring Creek section of East New York, in Brooklyn, New York City. It is located on a peninsula on the north shore of Jamaica Bay, bounded by Fresh Creek t ...

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 ...

Life and career

A native of

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

, Persaud immigrated with her family to

Brooklyn, New York 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 ...

as a young person. She is of

Dougla Dougla people (plural ''Douglas'') are Caribbean people who are of mixed African and Indian descent. The word ''Dougla'' (also Dugla or Dogla) is used throughout the Dutch and English-speaking Caribbean. Definition The word ''Dougla'' originat ...

(

Indo-Guyanese Indo-Guyanese or Indian-Guyanese, are people of Indian origin who are Guyanese nationals tracing their ancestry to India and the wider subcontinent. They are the descendants of indentured servants and settlers who migrated from India beginnin ...

and

Afro-Guyanese Afro-Guyanese are generally descended from the enslaved people brought to Guyana from the coast of West Africa to work on sugar plantations during the era of the Atlantic slave trade. Coming from a wide array of backgrounds and enduring conditio ...

) heritage. She graduated from

Pace University Pace University is a private university with its main campus in New York City and secondary campuses in Westchester County, New York. It was established in 1906 by the brothers Homer St. Clair Pace and Charles A. Pace as a business school. Pac ...

with both a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

and

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

in Education Administration before entering a career in education. Persaud previously served as a school administrator with Pace University and

St. Francis College , mottoeng = My God, My All , established = , type = Private college , chancellor = , president = Miguel Martinez-Saenz , provost = Jennifer Lancas ...

, Brooklyn, and also was involved with her community board in

, and has served on numerous boards and commissions for the community. In 2015, Persaud won the Democratic nomination to succeed

Alan Maisel Alan N. Maisel (born July 25, 1946) is an American politician who served in the New York City Council for the 46th district from 2014 to 2021. He is a Democrat. He formerly represented the 59th district of the New York State Assembly from 2006 ...

in 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 ...

, and served from January to November 2015.

New York Senate

In 2015, Senator John Sampson was found guilty of corruption and forced to resign. Persaud, then a first-term Assemblywoman, was chosen by the Kings County Democratic Party to succeed him, and easily won election that November to finish his term. In 2016, Persaud faced a primary challenge from Mercedes Narcisse, who was backed by Assemblyman

Charles Barron Charles Barron (born October 7, 1950) is an American activist and politician who currently serves in the New York City Council, representing Brooklyn's 42nd district. He previously held the same seat from 2002 to 2013, and served in the New Y ...

and Councilwoman

Inez Barron Inez Barron (née Smith) (born February 16, 1946) is an American educator and politician who served in the New York City Council for the 42nd district from 2014 to 2021. She is a Democrat. The district includes Broad Channel, Brownsville, Can ...

. Persaud easily defeated Narcisse with over 75% of the vote. Persaud easily won re-election in 2016, 2018, and 2020. Persaud was sworn in as state Senator on November 4, 2015. In 2019, with Democrats gaining the majority in the Senate, Persaud was named Chair of the Social Services Committee.

References

External links

Senator Roxanne Persaud
''official site'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Persaud, Roxanne Living people People from Brooklyn Democratic Party New York (state) state senators Women state legislators in New York (state) Pace University alumni 21st-century American politicians American politicians of Indian descent Guyanese emigrants to the United States 21st-century American women politicians Asian-American people in New York (state) politics 1966 births