Michel Faulkner

Michel J. Faulkner (; born May 21, 1957) is a former New York Jets football player who is the pastor of New Horizon Church in New York City. Faulkner was the 2010 Republican nominee for U.S. Representative for , and was the 2017 Republican nominee for New York City Comptroller.

Early life, education, and early career Faulkner was born in Baltimore, Maryland. His mother, Queenita Hairston, a beautician, married Steve Faulkner, a Washington, D.C. police officer. After moving to D.C., he lived and attended elementary school in southeast Washington, D.C. area of Anacostia. In 1980, he was graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in communications and sociology. While at Tech, Faulkner was involved in drama and spoken word presentations where he developed his public speaking abilities.

After college, Faulkner signed with the National Football League and had tryouts with the Oakland Raiders and the Washington Redskins. In 1981, he attended training camp with the New York Jets and spent the 1981–1982 season with the team as a defensive lineman.

After leaving the Jets in June 1982, Faulkner returned to Washington, D.C., where he attended graduate school at CBN (now Regent University) in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Faulkner moved to Blacksburg, Virginia to complete his Master's Degree in education and career counseling at Virginia Tech.

From June 2002 to February 2004, Faulkner served as World Vision’s Director of U.S. Programs. He oversaw the distribution of over $1 million in faith-based community and youth development grants to eight local churches in New York City.

In June 2006, Faulkner founded the New Horizon Church of New York in Harlem. Faulkner serves as President of the IFL. The IFL received a grant from New York State Health Foundation in 2009 to run a statewide diabetes campaign for the faith-based community.

Political career

In February 2010, Faulkner announced his candidacy to run as the Republican, Conservative and Jobs Now nominee, challenging Democratic and Working Families incumbent Charlie Rangel for . Faulkner was inspired to run for office by Scott Brown's successful election to Ted Kennedy's former Senate seat.

Faulkner was endorsed by Sean Hannity, the New York Right to Life Party,

In the November 2, 2010, general election, Faulkner received 9,235 votes (10%) of the 102,176 total votes cast, as Rangel won with 80% of the vote.

New York City 2017

On September 21, 2015, Faulkner, a registered Republican, announced his candidacy for the 2017 New York City mayoral race, thus becoming the first official candidate to contest incumbent mayor, Bill de Blasio.

In early 2017, Faulkner decided to run for New York City Comptroller instead of Mayor, and endorsed rival Paul Massey for Mayor. On November 7, 2017, Faulkner was defeated by incumbent Democratic Comptroller Scott Stringer by a margin of 76.72% to 19.50%.

Political issues

Faulkner is anti-abortion. Faulkner is currently married to Sarai Padilla, a psychologist.

Published works Restoring The American Dream, Camden House Books, a division of Word & Spirit Resources, (2010) .