Antonio Reynoso

Early life and family

Antonio Reynoso was born on May 9, 1983, at Cumberland Hospital in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and grew up on Hewes Street in the South Williamsburg neighborhood known as Los Sures 1,2. He was raised alongside two sisters by parents who had immigrated from the Dominican Republic, in a two-bedroom apartment 3,4.

Reynoso has been candid about the poverty of his upbringing. Speaking at St. Francis College in 2022, he described being not merely poor but "extremely poor," with a family that relied on welfare, food stamps, and Section 8 housing 5. He has also spoken about the 1980s drug trade that ravaged South Williamsburg, recounting that several older cousins were deported, jailed, or killed, including two who were shot and killed 5.

His parents saw education as the way out of poverty and instilled that belief in him early 6. His Aunt Norma chose the all-boys Catholic prep school La Salle Academy for him after watching too many cousins fall into trouble, a decision Reynoso credits with keeping him on track. The school became a family tradition, with more than 20 of his cousins eventually graduating from it 2.

Education

Reynoso attended local public schools as a child, including day care at Nuestros Niños, a center he would later fight to save from closure during his time in office 2. He then attended La Salle Academy in Manhattan's East Village on a full scholarship 5,6.

He went on to Le Moyne College, a small Jesuit school in Syracuse, New York, again on scholarship, earning a bachelor's degree in political science 4,5. He has described college as a culture shock, recalling that he was often the only Black or Brown student in his classes 5. After his grades dipped sharply in his first semester, he raised his GPA significantly by the end of the next term with the help of a mentor 5. It was at Le Moyne that he became, in his own words, a self-described social justice warrior, immersing himself in political science and the study of social structures 5.

Marriage and personal life

Reynoso lives in Williamsburg, just a few blocks from where he grew up, with his wife, Iliana Gomez, and their two sons, Alejandro and Andres 2,7. His Catholic education at La Salle and the Jesuit Le Moyne College reflects the religious environment of his upbringing, though he is identified publicly primarily by his political and community work rather than by a particular religious affiliation.

His personal story, growing up poor in an immigrant household in a neighborhood transformed by gentrification, remains central to his political identity. He has spoken of his attachment to the Latino community of Williamsburg even as the neighborhood has changed, lamenting in a 2026 interview that some assume the longtime community has disappeared amid the influx of newer businesses and wealthier residents 8.

Net worth

No comprehensive, verified net-worth figure for Reynoso is available in public reporting. As Brooklyn Borough President, he holds a salaried citywide office, and his public financial profile is consistent with a career public servant rather than a person of significant independent wealth.

Early career and entry into politics

After college, Reynoso returned to Brooklyn and began his career as a community organizer with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), an organization that advocated for low- and moderate-income families 9,10.

He then joined the staff of City Council Member Diana Reyna, working in constituent services and rising to become her chief of staff 10. Reynoso has described Reyna as "the best retail politician I've ever met in my life" 2. During this period, he co-founded the New Kings Democrats, a reform group of progressives seeking to challenge the entrenched Brooklyn Democratic Party machine 2.

When Reyna was term-limited out of her District 34 council seat, she chose Reynoso as her preferred successor. In 2013, at age 30, he won the seat, defeating a comeback attempt by the disgraced former Assembly Member Vito Lopez, a former Brooklyn Democratic Party boss 2. The victory launched his elected career.

Public identity

Reynoso describes himself as an organizer-turned-elected official, and his self-conception is rooted in the experiences of his Williamsburg childhood. He has said that growing up on the south side of Williamsburg "truly is my north star" in his political work 11. He frequently legislates, in his own framing, from his lived experience, pointing to having been stopped and frisked by the NYPD as a young man as the motivation behind his later policing-reform work 2.

He is widely regarded as a progressive and is associated with the institutional Working Families Party wing of New York's left rather than the Democratic Socialists of America wing, a distinction that became central to his 2026 congressional campaign. He is also known as a supporter of dense, transit-oriented housing development, aligning him with the city's "Yes In My Backyard" (YIMBY) pro-housing movement 12.

Place in New York politics

Reynoso made history in 2021 as the first Latino elected Brooklyn Borough President 9. His office describes him as Brooklyn's 20th borough president, succeeding Eric Adams; some references list him as the 19th, reflecting differences in how the line of officeholders is counted 4,13.

By 2026, having been re-elected to a second term as borough president, Reynoso had announced a campaign for the U.S. House seat being vacated by the retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez, his longtime mentor, setting up one of the most closely watched congressional primaries in New York. His biography, from an extremely poor childhood in Los Sures to a serious congressional contender, is itself a central theme of that campaign.