Sandra Nurse

Sandra Nurse (born April 3, 1984) is an American Democratic politician from New York City who has served as the New York City Council member for the 37th district since 2022. District 37 covers Bushwick and other neighborhoods in northern Brooklyn.

Early life and education Nurse was born in Panama and raised by a White American mother and a Afro-Panamanian father both serving in the U.S. Navy. She grew up in Panama until she was around 5 years old, when the family moved to various military posts including Cuba, South Korea, and Japan before she settled in Bushwick, Brooklyn in 2009. She completed graduate studies at The New School.

Career Prior to her runs for political office, Nurse worked in a number of jobs and fields, including as a waitress, a food delivery worker, a janitor, a community organizer, and most prominently a carpenter. She is also the founder of the Brooklyn-based composting organization BK ROT and a cofounder of the Mayday Space, a venue for progressive organizations.

2020 campaigns In September 2019, Nurse announced that she would run for the 54th district of the New York State Assembly, challenging incumbent Democrat Erik Martin Dilan from the left. Nurse was one of two left-wing challengers in the race, alongside State Senator Julia Salazar's chief of staff, Boris Santos.

However, after City Councilmember Rafael Espinal resigned from the overlapping 37th district of the New York City Council in January 2020, Nurse chose to abandon her Assembly campaign and run in the special election to replace Espinal. Nurse was seen as one of two major candidates in the race alongside district leader Darma Diaz, who had the support of Espinal and was seen as the race's establishment candidate.

With the March arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, the election took several unexpected turns. First, the planned April special election was suspended, then moved to June, and finally cancelled altogether in favor of a traditional primary and general election to be held in June and November. Governor Andrew Cuomo additionally decreed that, in light of the pandemic, the number of signatures required to make it onto the ballot would be significantly reduced – but the New York City Board of Elections ruled in April that the new requirements would not apply to the special election, leaving every candidate but Diaz short of the necessary number of signatures and thus barred from the ballot. Nurse fought the ruling and argued that the Brooklyn Democratic Party had meddled to ensure a Diaz victory, but was unsuccessful in reinstating herself on the special election ballot. Diaz thus was able to win both the primary and general elections completely unopposed.

2021 City Council campaign In July 2020 – shortly after Diaz had won her special election primary – Nurse announced she would seek a rematch in the regularly scheduled 2021 City council election. As in the special election, Nurse ran a left-wing campaign, and received support from many of the city's most influential progressive officeholders and organizations, among them Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nydia Velázquez, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, and the Working Families Party. Nurse subsequently won the general election with over 86% of the vote.

As Councilmember In 2025, the City Council passed a bill Nurse authored that requires the city to expand availability of public restrooms.

In March 2026, Nurse said the top priority in her district was housing.

In May 2026, Nurse was present at the scene of a conflict in Bushwick between federal immigration officers and local protesters. She said that she witnessed what “appeared to be direct coordination between ICE and the NYPD, with officers cordoning off the ambulance bay to allow ICE to move the individual into their vehicles and leave.” This raised concerns that the NYPD had violated the city's sanctuary laws.

Nurse sits on the City Council's Progressive Caucus, serving as co-chair.

Personal life Nurse lives in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn. She identifies as Afro-Latina. In December 2023, her father, Guillermo Nurse, was sworn in as the first Latino mayor of Oxford, North Carolina.

Electoral history 2025

2023

2021