New York City's 17th City Council district is one of 51 districts in the

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City in the United States. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government mod ...

. It has been represented by

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 (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

Rafael Salamanca Rafael "Ralph" Salamanca Jr. (born July 2, 1980) is the Councilmember for the 17th district of the New York City Council. He is a Democrat. The district includes portions of Concourse Village, East Tremont, Hunts Point, Longwood, Melrose, Mo ...

since a 2016 special election to succeed fellow Democrat

Maria del Carmen Arroyo Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

Geography

District 17 covers a series of neighborhoods at the heart of the

South Bronx The South Bronx is an area of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The area comprises neighborhoods in the southern part of the Bronx, such as Concourse, Bronx, Concourse, Mott Haven, Bronx, Mott Haven, Melrose, B ...

, including some or all of Crotona Park East,

Melrose Melrose may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Melrose, Scottish Borders, a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland ** Melrose Abbey, ruined monastery ** Melrose RFC, rugby club Australia * Melrose, Queensland, a locality in the South Burnett R ...

, Hunts Point,

Concourse A concourse is a place where pathways or roads meet, such as in a hotel, a convention center, a railway station, an airport terminal, a hall, or other space. The term is not limited to places where there are literally pathways or roadways or t ...

, East Tremont,

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 163rd Street to the south, and Webster Avenu ...

, Longwood,

Port Morris Port Morris is a neighborhood geographically located in the southwest corner of the Bronx, New York City. The neighborhood is part of Bronx Community Board 1. Its boundaries are the Major Deegan Expressway and Bruckner Expressway to the north, ...

, and West Farms.

Crotona Park Crotona Park is a public park in the South Bronx in New York City, covering . The park is bounded by streets of the same name on its northern, eastern, southern, and western borders, and is adjacent to the Crotona Park East and Morrisania nei ...

, North and South Brother Islands, and

The Hub The Hub may refer to: Places * The Hub, Bronx, an area of the South Bronx, New York, known for its convergence of subway and bus lines * The Hub (Edinburgh), former church in Edinburgh that is now home to the Edinburgh International Festival * T ...

are all located within the district. The district overlaps with Bronx

Community Boards Community Boards is a community based mediation program, established in 1976, in San Francisco, California, United States by Raymond Shonholtz. The program utilizes volunteers from the neighbourhoods of the city, who work with people involved in ...

1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 9, and is contained entirely within

New York's 15th congressional district New York's 15th congressional district for the United States House of Representatives is located in New York City, State of New York. The district has been represented by Democrat Ritchie Torres since 2021. It is the poorest congressional dis ...

. It also overlaps with the

29th 29 (twenty-nine) is the natural number following 28 and preceding 30. It is a prime number. 29 is the number of days February has on a leap year. Mathematics 29 is the tenth prime number. Integer properties 29 is the fifth primorial prime, ...

, 32nd, 33rd, and 34th districts of the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature, while the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Established in 1777 by the Constitution of New York, its members are elected to two-year terms with no term l ...

, and with the 77th, 79th, 84th, 85th, 86th, and 87th districts 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 Ass ...

Recent election results

2025

The 2025 New York City Council elections will be held on November 4, 2025, with primary elections occurring on June 24, 2025.

2023 (redistricting)

Due to redistricting and the 2020 changes to the

New York City Charter The New York City Charter is the municipal charter of New York City. As part of the 1898 consolidation of New York City, the New York State Legislature enacted a charter for the consolidated city (Laws of 1897, chapter 378, effective January 1, ...

, councilmembers elected during the

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

and 2023 City Council elections will serve two-year terms, with full four-year terms resuming after the 2025 New York City Council elections.

2021

In 2019, voters in New York City approved Ballot Question 1, which implemented

ranked-choice voting Ranked-choice voting may be used as a synonym for: * Ranked voting, a term used for any voting system in which voters are asked to rank candidates in order of preference * Instant-runoff voting (IRV), a specific ranked voting system with single-wi ...

in all local elections. Under the new system, voters have the option to rank up to five candidates for every local office. Voters whose first-choice candidates fare poorly will have their votes redistributed to other candidates in their ranking until one candidate surpasses the 50 percent threshold. If one candidate surpasses 50 percent in first-choice votes, then ranked-choice tabulations will not occur.

2017

2016 specials

In late 2015, Councilwoman

announced she would resign, triggering an election for her seat. Two special elections were scheduled to fill her seat: one nonpartisan election in February to serve the remainder of the calendar year, followed by a standard partisan primary and general election that September and November to complete the remainder of her term. Both were won by

. Like all municipal special elections in New York City, the race is officially nonpartisan, with all candidates running on ballot lines of their own creation. The November special election also coincided with federal elections in 2016, including the

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The p ...

, Senate election and other statewide races.

2013

References

{{New York City Council New York City Council districts