Rep.-elect Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.-15)

Date of birth: March 12, 1988
Residence: New York City
Occupation: city councilman
Education: diploma, Herbert H. Lehman High School; attended New York University
Family: single

Ritchie Torres will make history when he joins Congress in January as one of the two first openly gay Black members of Congress. He’ll also be the first openly gay Afro-Latino member.

Prior to joining Congress, Torres served on the New York City Council. He was first elected in 2013, becoming the youngest elected official in the city at age 25 and first openly LGBT elected official from the Bronx.

He’s served as chair of the city council’s Committee on Public Housing and the Oversight and Investigations Committee. His city council website lists legislative wins on affordable housing, LGBT mental health, the opioid epidemic and police reform.

Torres will now represent the Bronx, where he grew up living in public housing, in Congress.

“I lived in conditions of mold and vermin, lead and leaks,” he said in a campaign video.

Torres, a progressive, won a crowded Democratic primary with 32 percent of the vote, beating out fellow progressives and more conservative Democrats. He’ll be replacing Democratic Rep. José Serrano, who is retiring.

The campaign site lists his personal motto as, “If you do nothing, nothing will change.”

– Rachel Frazin