By Simon CrerarShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberDemocrat Nydia Velázquez will not seek reelection next year after 34 years in Congress, saying, “the time is right for me to move on and for a new generation of leaders to step forward.”
Velázquez, 72, the first Puerto Rican woman to serve in Congress, said representing the people of New York City has been the “privilege of a lifetime.”
Why It Matters
Elected in 1993, the pioneering Velázquez, nicknamed “La Luchadora,” Spanish for "The Fighter," spent much of her political career focused on immigrants and the needs of working-class New Yorkers.
Close to Democratic U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a fellow elected New York leader of Puerto Rican descent, Velázquez endorsed 34-year-old NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in June’s primaries, while most Democratic colleagues sat on the fence.
...Her upcoming retirement, announced only weeks after Mamdani’s election, clears the way for a primary in her deep-blue district in Brooklyn and Queens, which broke heavily for the incoming democratic socialist mayor.
What To Know
“I grew up in a small town of sugar cane fields in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico,” Velázquez said in a statement announcing her retirement. “Nine children in a wooden house. Politics in Washington felt a world away. If you had told that little girl she would one day be the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress, she would never have believed it.”
In October, Velázquez wrote about the potential remilitarization of Puerto Rico for Newsweek: "Puerto Rico has no real say over its destiny. It remains a colony, exploited at will, with no guarantees of justice or equality."
In recent weeks, the House member has frequently been seen at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan, where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been holding migrants for removal from the country.
...What People Are Saying
Mamdani, on X: “Your grace and fight showed us what real leadership looks like. From the bottom of my heart, thank you La Luchadora.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who served in Congress with Velázquez: “She has never forgotten where she came from, and she has never stopped fighting for the people she serves.”
What Happens Next
"I do not yet know what the next chapter holds," Velázquez said, "but I know I will continue fighting for the city I love and for an end to Puerto Rico’s colonial status. Serving New York has been the honor of my life."
Several Democrats have already been suggested as potential candidates to fill the seat of the outgoing lawmaker, who didn’t name a chosen successor and said she would consider an endorsement closer to the primary election, scheduled for June.
According to Politico, potential contenders include state Senator Julia Salazar, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and New York City Council Member Jen Gutiérrez.
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