Adriano Espaillat: Career Timeline
Pre-Political Career
Espaillat's professional career began in community service and nonprofit advocacy. From 1980 to 1988, he served as the Manhattan Court Services Coordinator for the New York City Criminal Justice Agency, working to reduce unnecessary pretrial detention . He subsequently directed the Washington Heights Victims Services Community Office from 1992 to 1994, providing counseling and support to families of homicide victims and other crime victims . From 1994 to 1996, he led Project Right Start, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded national initiative to combat substance abuse through parent education . He also served on New York City Community Board 12 and as President of the 34th Precinct Community Council . From 1991 to 1993, he was a member of Governor Mario Cuomo's Dominican-American Advisory Board .
New York State Assembly (1997 to 2010)
Espaillat was first elected to the New York State Assembly in 1996, representing the 72nd District and becoming the first Dominican-born American elected to a state legislature in the United States . He defeated incumbent Miguel Martinez in the Democratic primary and then won the general election against Republican Bill Buran with 94 percent of the vote . During his Assembly tenure, he chaired the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus in 2002 and served on committees focused on small businesses, children, and families . He also chaired the Veterans Affairs Committee from 2007 to 2010 and the Small Businesses Committee in 2010 .
In the Assembly, Espaillat advanced legislation to encourage the construction and preservation of affordable housing, supported low-income day care workers' right to organize and obtain health care, and sponsored measures to improve hospital translation services . He established a higher education scholarship fund for the relatives of victims of American Airlines Flight 587 . After a wave of assaults and murders targeting livery cab drivers in 2000, he passed legislation strengthening penalties for violent crimes against those drivers and enabling their families to receive funding from the New York State Crime Victims Board . He also supported efforts to allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses in 2007 and took legal action against Con Edison following a two-day blackout in Upper Manhattan in 1999 that caused financial damage to local small businesses .
New York State Senate (2011 to 2016)
Espaillat was elected to the New York State Senate in November 2010, representing the 31st District . His district stretched from Manhattan's Upper West Side through Washington Heights and included Riverdale, Marble Hill, Inwood, and Hamilton Heights . In the Senate, he served as Ranking Member of the Housing, Construction, and Community Development Committee and chaired the Senate Puerto Rican/Latino Caucus . He also sat on the Environmental Conservation, Economic Development, Codes, Insurance, and Judiciary committees . He voted in favor of marriage equality in 2011 .
First Congressional Campaign and Loss (2012)
In 2012, Espaillat ran in the Democratic primary for New York's 13th Congressional District, challenging 42-year incumbent Charles Rangel . The district had been redrawn after the 2010 census to become a 55-percent Hispanic-majority district . He received endorsements from former Bronx Borough Presidents Fernando Ferrer and Adolfo Carrion Jr., among others . Rangel narrowly defeated Espaillat, receiving 44 percent of the vote to Espaillat's 42 percent, a margin of fewer than 1,000 votes . The election was marked by accusations that Spanish-speaking voters were turned away at the polls or required to use affidavit ballots .
Second Congressional Campaign and Loss (2014)
Espaillat challenged Rangel again in the 2014 Democratic primary but lost a second time . Following this defeat, he announced his reelection bid for his State Senate seat, facing former City Councilman Robert Jackson, and won .
Election to Congress (2016)
In 2015, Espaillat announced he would give up his State Senate seat to run for Congress a third time, this time in an open seat after Rangel announced he would not seek a 22nd term . In the June 2016 Democratic primary, Espaillat narrowly defeated state Assemblyman Keith L.T. Wright, his nearest challenger, with 36 percent of the vote in a nine-candidate field . Wright conceded two days after the election . Espaillat then defeated Republican Tony Evans, Green Party candidate Daniel Vila Rivera, and Transparent Government candidate Scott Lloyd Fenstermaker in the general election with 89 percent of the vote .
Congressional Service (2017 to Present)
Espaillat was sworn into office on January 3, 2017, during the 115th Congress, becoming the first formerly undocumented immigrant and the first Dominican American to serve in the United States Congress 30. He initially served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, and the House Select Committee on Small Business .
He was reelected in 2018 with 95 percent of the vote, in 2020 with 91 percent, and ran unopposed in 2022 . In 2024, Espaillat defeated Republican Ruben D. Vargas with 84 percent of the vote in the general election .
Espaillat moved to the House Committee on Appropriations, where he became Ranking Member of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee 34. In November 2024, he was unanimously elected Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus for the 119th Congress, becoming the first Dominican American and the first Black member to lead the organization . He previously served as Deputy Chair and as Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute 36. He has also been a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and a Senior Whip of the Democratic Caucus 37.
2026 Primary Defeat
On June 23, 2026, Espaillat lost the Democratic primary for his seat to Darializa Avila Chevalier, a 32-year-old democratic socialist and community organizer backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani . With 86 percent of the expected vote tallied, Avila Chevalier held 49.4 percent of votes to Espaillat's 45.9 percent . The result ended Espaillat's congressional career after five terms .