Alexa Avilés

Alexa Avilés (born January 15, 1973) is an American politician, community activist, and non-profit manager from New York City. She is a member of the New York City Council for the 38th district, which covers Sunset Park along Brooklyn's western shoreline, also covering Red Hook, Greenwood Heights, and small parts of Windsor Terrace, Dyker Heights, and Borough Park neighborhoods in western Brooklyn.

Prior to taking office, Avilés worked in the non-profit sector, served as president of a parent-teacher association and a member of Brooklyn Community Board 7.

Early life and education Avilés was born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, and raised in East New York. She was the youngest of seven children born to a substance abuse counselor mother, and the first in her family to attend college. She graduated from Columbia University in 1995, and received a master's degree from CUNY's Baruch College School of Public and International Affairs.

Career Her first job began as internship in college and then continued after graduation, at a philanthropy that provided environmental grants in under-served communities in Mississippi, and from there she branched out to work in reproductive rights and justice drives for native communities. She later worked for the Justice, Equality, Human dignity and Tolerance Foundation (JEHT), focused on mass incarceration issues as a program manager, focusing on juvenile decarceration.

Elected office In 2021, Avilés defeated five other candidates to win the Democratic nomination, prevailing over her closest opponent Yu Lin 65%–35% in the fifth round of ranked choice voting. She received endorsements from U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Congressmembers Nydia Velázquez and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, State Senators Julia Salazar and Jabari Brisport, Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes, the Working Families Party, United Federation of Teachers, District Council 37, and other local groups and elected officials. No Republican challenged her in the November 2021 general election, and Avilés won with over 80% of the vote. She took office in January 2022.

In 2025, Avilés again won the Democratic nomination, defeating her primary opponent Ling Ye 71.5%–28%. Ye criticized her for not supporting building more housing, saying, "Avilés often doesn’t want anything built unless it’s truly affordable". Avilés' team pointed out her work on securing funding for affordable housing, homeownership programs, and rent-stabilized housing. Avilés defeated her Republican challenger, Luis Quero, in the 2025 general election, 73.1%–26.9%.

2023

2021