Antonio Reynoso: Career Timeline
Antonio Reynoso's career has moved steadily up the ladder of Brooklyn politics: from community organizer to council staffer, to two terms representing the 34th District on the City Council, to Brooklyn Borough President, and, as of 2026, to a candidate for Congress. The timeline below traces that progression in chronological order, with citations to primary or strong secondary sources for each major moment.
Organizing and apprenticeship
After graduating from Le Moyne College, Reynoso returned to Brooklyn and began his career as a community organizer with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), advocating for low- and moderate-income families 1.
He then joined the staff of City Council Member Diana Reyna of the 34th District, starting in constituent services and rising to chief of staff 2. During these years, he co-founded the New Kings Democrats, a reform group challenging the entrenched Brooklyn Democratic Party organization 3.
Elected to the City Council
When Reyna was term-limited out of her District 34 seat (covering Williamsburg and Bushwick in Brooklyn and Ridgewood in Queens), she selected Reynoso as her preferred successor. In the 2013 Democratic primary, at age 30, he defeated a comeback attempt by the disgraced former Assembly Member and Brooklyn Democratic boss Vito Lopez 3. He won the general election and took office on January 1, 2014, succeeding Reyna 4.
Reynoso quickly established himself as an effective progressive legislator focused on quality-of-life issues: waste management, policing, tenant safety, transportation, and land use [5]. He became Chair of the Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management, a role that would define much of his legislative legacy.
A signature early achievement was his role in passing the Right to Know Act, a package of policing reforms requiring NYPD officers to identify themselves, provide business cards, and inform people of their right to refuse consent searches. Reynoso, who has said he was himself stopped and frisked as a young man in Williamsburg, was a leading champion of the measure 2,6.
Reynoso was re-elected in 2017 and served as Chair of the Sanitation Committee for a second time. His second term produced his most significant legislative work:
The Waste Equity Law (2018), which limited the amount of trash processed in overburdened neighborhoods. At the time, North Brooklyn alone handled roughly 40 percent of the city's trash, with southeast Queens and the South Bronx handling much of the rest 7.
The Commercial Waste Zone law (2019), which overhauled the private carting industry by dividing the city into 20 zones, each served by a capped number of carters, was enacted after fatal crashes involving the company Sanitation Salvage 8,9.
He also championed the Bushwick Community Plan, a community-led rezoning effort that the de Blasio administration ultimately blocked from advancing 5.
Elected Brooklyn Borough President
In 2021, Reynoso ran to succeed Eric Adams as Brooklyn Borough President. He won the crowded Democratic primary over more than a dozen candidates after 11 rounds of ranked-choice voting 10. In the November general election, he won by a wide margin, defeating Voices for Change candidate Shanduke McPhatter, Republican Menachem Raitport, and Anthony Jones of the "Rent is 2 Damn High" party 10.
He took office on January 1, 2022, becoming the first Latino Brooklyn Borough President 1. Within days, in a symbolic early move, he ended the practice of allowing staff to park private vehicles on the Borough Hall plaza, a habit of his predecessor that had drawn criticism 11.
As borough president, Reynoso holds an office that is largely advisory and ceremonial but retains a formal role in the city's land-use and rezoning processes, the power to appoint members to community boards and planning bodies, and a budget to allocate [12].
His major initiatives have included:
The Comprehensive Plan for Brooklyn, released in Fall 2023, which his office described as the first borough-specific, large-scale planning effort in city history. It called for more housing construction in transit-rich and historically under-built areas, alongside transit and public-health improvements 13,14.
A consistent focus on equitable development, environmental justice, public health, and immigration services, using the office as what his team called a platform for policy change and a hub for direct services 3.
Land-use recommendations notable for engaging seriously with development finance, including, in one 2026 recommendation, a detailed primer on the economics of housing development 12.
He was re-elected to a second term as borough president by a wider margin than his first win, in the 2025 cycle 15.
Candidate for Congress (NY-7)
In late November 2025, Rep. Nydia Velázquez announced she would retire after more than three decades representing New York's 7th Congressional District, which spans North Brooklyn and Western Queens. On December 4, 2025, Reynoso became the first candidate to declare for the open seat 16,17.
Velázquez, a longtime mentor whom Reynoso has called a "hero and friend," endorsed him to succeed her on January 16, 2026 18,19. The Democratic primary, set for June 23, 2026, developed into a closely watched contest between Reynoso, Queens Assembly Member Claire Valdez (backed by the Democratic Socialists of America and Mayor Zohran Mamdani), and Queens Council Member Julie Won 20,21. The general election follows on November 3, 2026.
ACORN community organizer (post-2005).
Chief of staff to Council Member Diana Reyna.
Co-founder, New Kings Democrats.
New York City Council, 34th District: January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2021 (two terms), two-time Chair of the Sanitation Committee.
Brooklyn Borough President: January 1, 2022, to present (re-elected 2025).
Candidate, U.S. House, New York's 7th Congressional District (2026 Democratic primary, June 23, 2026).