Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-New York) has introduced she gained’t search reelection in 2026 to her deep-blue congressional seat, ending a greater than three-decade profession in Congress for the trailblazing progressive lawmaker who was the primary Puerto Rican girl ever elected to Congress.
Velazquez, affectionately dubbed “La Luchadora,” or The Fighter, says she’s going to step apart subsequent 12 months after 16 phrases representing her predominantly Latino NY-07 district that encompasses components of northern Brooklyn and western Queens.
“The time is right for me to move on and for a new generation of leaders to step forward,” Velazquez, 72, mentioned in an announcement posted on social media.
Potential candidates might embody Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and State Sen. Julia Salazar, though many different distinguished Latino political leaders could be fascinated with working.
There’s just about no probability of a Republican successful the closely Democratic district, that means Velazquez’s successor will virtually definitely be chosen by Democratic voters in a main prone to be held within the spring.
Rep. Nydia Velazquez throughout day two of the Democratic Nationwide Conference in 2008. (Mark Wilson/Getty Photographs)
Velazquez is the longest-serving Latina in Congress and is commonly cited as a robust mentor by youthful leaders together with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) and Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
“From the bottom of my heart, thank you La Luchadora,” Mamdani tweeted.
The NY-07 district was drawn with the purpose of giving Latino voters an opportunity to elect the candidate of their selection below each state and federal voting rights legal guidelines, that means it will seemingly stay a strongly Latino district for the foreseeable future. That will give would-be candidates the hope that the winner might maintain the seat for years and even many years, as Velazquez did.
Born and raised in a poor sugar cane-growing village on Puerto Rico’s southeast coast, Velazquez got here to New York Metropolis as a graduate scholar and put down deep political roots in her adopted hometown.
At age 39, she gained a crowded Democratic main in 1992 to symbolize a model of her present district, which incorporates components of Williamsburg, Bushwick and Lengthy Island Metropolis, and by no means confronted one other severe political problem.
Rep. Nydia Velazquez gestures throughout a information convention on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 26, 2009. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
“If you had told that little girl she would one day become the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress, she would never have believed it,” Velazquez mentioned.
Velazquez performed a key and generally controversial function in advocating for better political energy for Puerto Ricans each on the mainland and on the island.
She is a longtime critic of statehood for the island and has supported types of enhanced self-government that would give Puerto Ricans extra energy over their affairs.
Velazquez has additionally mentioned pushing for statehood is a waste of time as a result of Republicans won’t ever settle for a Latino 51st state that would additionally enhance Democrats in Congress and the electoral school.
