Margarita López

Margarita López is a former member of the New York City Council who represented New York City's 2nd City Council district from 1998 to 2005, having been elected in 1997. The 2nd district comprises the Lower East Side, Alphabet City, and the East Village.

Early life

Born in Puerto Rico, she relocated to New York City in 1978.

Lopez worked as a homeless outreach social worker for 12 years for Project Outreach at Goddard Riverside.

Political career

Lopez was a member of Manhattan Community Board 3 from 1985 to 1996. She was also elected female district leader of New York State Assembly district 63 in 1995. She was elected to the New York City Council on election day in 1997. She served on the council from January 1998 to January 2006. she lost the Democratic primary election to win her party's endorsement for the general election in November of that year. Democratic candidate Scott Stringer won both the primary and later the general election.

In 2006, Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed López to a seat on the board of the New York City Housing Authority. López, who once was a critic of Bloomberg, endorsed the mayor in his re-election campaign against Fernando Ferrer, the second Puerto Rican politician to run for mayor of the city (Herman Badillo was the first). She was succeeded in her previous councilmember position by Rosie Méndez.