Antonio Reynoso

Antonio Reynoso (born May 9, 1983) is an American politician and community organizer serving as borough president of Brooklyn since 2022. He is a member of the Democratic Party, and was elected Brooklyn borough president in the 2021 election. He previously was a member of the New York City Council for the 34th district from 2014 to 2021. The district included portions of Bushwick, Greenpoint, and Williamsburg in Brooklyn and Ridgewood, Queens.

In 2026, Reynoso announced a run for New York's 7th Congressional district to succeed retiring incumbent Nydia Velázquez, who endorsed him. He was defeated in the Democratic primary by democratic socialist Claire Valdez.

Early life and career Reynoso was born in Brooklyn and raised in the Los Sures section of Williamsburg to immigrant parents from the Dominican Republic. He graduated from Le Moyne College with a bachelor's degree in political science. one of his assignments was to organize childcare providers to join the United Food and Commercial Workers union. In 2009, he became chief of staff to Diana Reyna, the member of the New York City Council for District 34.

New York City Council With Reyna prevented from running for reelection in 2013 due to term limits, Reynoso ran to succeed her The district included Bushwick, Ridgewood, and Williamsburg.

During both his terms, Reynoso served as chair of the City Council's Committee on Sanitation & Solid Waste Management. In the final round (Round 11) of the ranked-choice voting election, he defeated Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon, 54.9% to 45.1%.

In 2026, the Coney Island Mermaid Parade faced financial difficulties with organizers at Coney Island USA runnning a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds and save the event. When Reynoso heard about the Parade's financial difficulties, he pledged $20,000 and committed to providing that same amount annually throughout his remaining time in office "to secure the future of the historic Mermaid Parade".

Political positions Ideologically, Reynoso is a progressive. At age 22, before his election to the City Council, he co-founded New Kings Democrats, a progressive reform-oriented grouping of the Brooklyn Democratic Party; the faction has struggled for control of the borough's party organization, clashing with bosses Vito Lopez and Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn.

Housing and land use In 2019, as a city councilmember, Reynoso proposed a plan to create new historic districts to limit development in Bushwick, preserve manufacturing zoning, and allow no more than 2,000 new housing units, all at below-market rates (in contrast to a plan by Mayor Bill de Blasio to allow 5,613 new units of housing, including 1,873 units permanently earmarked for below-market-rate).

In November 2021, upon winning election as borough president, Reynoso criticized past mayors for what he called overdevelopment, and that he wanted to "empower community boards to dictate what their communities look like in 10 years." and proposed plans to upzone Brooklyn to permit more housing. He also criticized NIMBYism and efforts to block housing construction based on notions of "neighborhood character."

As a city councilmember and as Brooklyn BP, Reynoso has supported initiatives to protect the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists, He supports the end of parking minimums and has criticized illegal parking, such as double parking and parking on sidewalks, parks, and bike lanes. In 2024, after a series of pedestrian deaths caused by turning cars at intersections, Reynoso and other Brooklyn elected officials called for universal daylighting. The bill, passed in response to NYPD's use of stop-and-frisk, was enacted in 2017 and took effect in 2018.

2026 congressional campaign

On January 8, 2026, Reynoso announced his candidacy for New York's 7th congressional district to succeed retiring incumbent Nydia Velázquez. He faced Assembly Member Claire Valdez and New York City Councilor Julie Won in the primary. The race was seen as a fight between progressives, who largely backed Reynoso, and socialists, who backed Valdez. Reynoso received the support of Velázquez, Working Families Party, and a majority of labor unions.

Despite publicly available polling indicating a close race within the margin of error, Valdez ultimately defeated Reynoso by a 20 point margin.

Election history 2013

2017

2021

2025

2026