Respectfully, Antonio Reynoso is from Brooklyn

Antonio Reynoso hadn’t even sat down at the coffee shop yet when he brought up his memories of the neighborhood.

“This place used to be a Dominican dive bar,” he said. “They used to play típico here.”

Reynoso would know. He grew up down the street, a son of Dominican immigrants in the section of Williamsburg known as Los Sures, and he still lives there with his wife, Iliana, and two sons, Alejandro, 8, and Andres, 5.

In the years between, he helped start the New Kings Democrats to reform county politics, he got elected to two terms in the New York City Council and another two as Brooklyn borough president. In the months ahead, he hopes to be elected to Congress – fulfilling a goal he set as a college student two decades ago.

Reynoso would seem like the natural successor to Rep. Nydia Velázquez, who’s retiring after 34 years in the House, most recently in the 7th Congressional District including North Brooklyn and western Queens. He’s Latino, ambitious and a progressive Democrat in the mold of Velázquez, whose voting record is among the most left-leaning in Congress. Her “godchildren,” the stable of younger area elected officials she’s taken under her wing, agreed. Reynoso emerged from those backroom conversations as their one contender, and soon earned the endorsement of Velázquez, “La Luchadora.”

“Look, as a woman, I would have preferred a woman. But Antonio was always there,” Velázquez told City & State. “This is a guy that I know so well. And he never stopped impressing me.”

But this isn’t going to be a coronation. Reynoso is facing a serious challenge from Claire Valdez, a democratic socialist Assembly member who’s got the full support of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the city chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. She’s got a movement behind her, but it’s a newer movement with a candidate who’s newer to politics – and to New York. She moved to Brooklyn in 2015 after growing up in Texas, and moved into the district in 2019. She only took office a year ago.

On Feb. 2, New York City Council Member Julie Won jumped into the primary too. A New Yorker since immigrating from South Korea as a child, she has represented western Queens for four years – but her political experience still falls far short of Reynoso’s two decades on the scene.

Now, the race has become the latest referendum on who’s a real New Yorker and who’s the right fit to represent a district in Congress. The matchup is raising questions about whether candidates earn votes through putting in work in the district and building connections to political leaders and community groups, or through adherence to an ideology and alignment with an ascendent political project. The key for Reynoso will be convincing voters that experience matters, and political lineage matters, even in 2026 New York City. 

Will Democrats in the most progressive neighborhoods in the country want somebody new, from outside the system, or do they want a son of Brooklyn? 

Antonio Reynoso sat down with City & State on a freezing cold January day, just hours after NYC-DSA formally announced its endorsement of Valdez (and before Won launched her campaign). We met at a coffee shop and bar called Fiction, a place so cool that Mamdani’s artist wife, Rama Duwaji namedropped it in a magazine profile.

Reynoso loves the spot, and he’s just as proud of all the newer Latino-owned businesses that have opened up in Williamsburg – MamaSushi, Limosneros, Abba, Carneval, McOndo Tacos. The neighborhood has changed since he was a kid, but it’s not just Whole Foods and private equity-backed coffee shops. “People think we don't exist anymore, that we're dead,” Reynoso said. “It's just not the case.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

City & State: I just came from Valdez’s endorsement rally with NYC-DSA. She said she’d be running alongside “comrades” and then was like, “yes, I say comrades.” Does it feel odd to be running against somebody who is saying she's not even a candidate, she's a movement, she's an organization?

Reynoso: Organizations are deeply important. We have organizations like Make the Road that have been here forever. They're important. This one's a little different. It muddies the water whether it's Gustavo (Gordillo, co-chair of NYC-DSA) talking or it's you talking. It's like, 'We're going against the DSA, we're not going against Claire.'

I respect organizations. But you want to find the Zohrans, you want to find the AOCs, you want to find the Bernies, whoever it is within the organization that can help elevate the work, versus just being like a cog within the system, you know? 

I really feel like it's me against the DSA. Well, I don't – it is me against Claire. But it's very clear that Claire considers herself ‘a movement partner.’ I don't know. It's a hard thing to put into – I don't want to be disrespectful in this. So I'm trying to hold back – I just want to be as respectful as I possibly can. But I think high-quality candidates have value.

Do you consider yourself a socialist?

No. I have socialist principles in the work that I do. But I've never considered myself a socialist. Those weren't conversations we were having at the dinner table when I was growing up. I wake up every day and I do the work, and the work speaks for who I am in the political spectrum.

You’ve still been one of the best allies to DSA politicians in democratic politics in New York. You endorsed Julia Salazar over the incumbent. You cross-endosed with Alexa Avilés. You cut a TV ad for Mamdani. Now you’re running against DSA, and things have already gotten tense. Does it feel like it's going to get uglier?

I think it is going to get uglier. I've never done a piece of negative lit in my entire life. I don't disparage the candidates I'm going against. 'Spread love' is really who I've always been. I remember my first campaign, I told them that it needed to be centered on love, and then (future City Council Member) Lincoln Restler came in one day very upset, and I told him he had to leave the campaign office, breathe and then come back in. And that marveled him. When he ran for City Council, he said that he instituted the same policy in his campaign, because I think it's unusual for people to think about positive energy and just think about being nice to people, being kind naturally. Bad things are going to happen. It doesn't need to mean that we're going to be bad. I don't like the way it's already starting, and my camp knows where they can be, and where they can't be. So you're not going to see a lot of us on Twitter causing trouble. 

Are you saying you definitely won’t do a negative ad? Or do you feel like you’ll have to?

I won't be doing negative ads. My team knows that they can't do negative ads. That's not our work. We don't do that. You won't see us doing any negative ads. I've never done it. We can't start now.

You’ve been in politics for 20 years, you’ve done everything “right,” you’ve risen through the ranks. Do you feel disrespected that Valdez is now running in this race against you?

I think anybody has the right to run, so I don't feel disrespected by people running for office. What I want to think about is, does what I've done in the past have value, does the work that I've done speak to what I would do in the future, and do people have confidence in that. It's like, you know what, we've seen Antonio fight the hard fights. We've seen him win, we've seen him deliver, and we want him to continue to win and deliver for us. So we're going to find out during the election process whether the people of this district believe that the work that I've done and what I've delivered on can translate to the Congress. But I don't feel disrespected.

Snow was falling and the L train was down, but the progressive advocacy groups backing Reynoso’s campaign made sure the hip Bushwick venue Turk’s Inn was full for his kickoff rally on Jan. 17. Immigrant New Yorkers organized by Make the Road Action and tenants organized by Churches United for Fair Housing Action came together as Bad Bunny songs played at a respectful volume for the older folks in the crowd. A kid in a blue jacket drew with markers at a table, a “Tax the Rich” poster serving as a placemat.

But the rich were represented there as well, in the form of Kathy Wylde, recently retired after decades leading the big business lobbying group the Partnership for New York City. 

“I think he’s the experienced and qualified candidate. It’s not ideological. I don’t know the candidate running against him. But she’s new to New York. Otherwise I’d know her,” Wylde said, referring to Valdez. “I know most people who have been here a while and have put their time in!” 

As the speeches began, a message became clear. 

“Antonio is a son of the Southside,” City Council Member Sandy Nurse said. “It matters that who takes this seat is rooted in community, who the people know, and who we can trust.”

“He is a son of this community, a son of this district, a son of Brooklyn,” said City Council Member Crystal Hudson, wearing a hoodie reading “Respectfully, I’m from Brooklyn.” 

“Antonio has been presente every single day for years, a son of Los Sures,” said City Council Member Shekar Krishnan.

Reynoso was born in Brooklyn – Cumberland Hospital in Fort Greene – and grew up on Hewes Street. He did day care at Nuestros Niños, which he fought to save from closing 40 years later due to Adams administration budget cuts. Reynoso went to local public schools as a kid, then crossed the river to attend La Salle Academy in the East Village on a high school scholarship. His Aunt Norma picked the all-boys Catholic prep school after watching too many of his cousins get into drugs – two were shot and killed. La Salle kept Reynoso out of trouble, and it’s become a family tradition. More than 20 of Reynoso’s cousins have graduated from there now, he said. 

From there, Reynoso went to Le Moyne College, a small Jesuit school in Syracuse. Classmates loved the parties he threw, but he struggled academically his first year – until a  counselor, Mr. Thomas, helped him to get his life together.

“He always said, 'You're too poor not to plan,' and you need a 5-, 10-, and 20-year plan,” Reynoso recalled. In five years, he would graduate from college. In 10 years, he would have a job making $100,000. “He was like, 'What about 20 years?' Think about something extraordinary. Because from this day forward, every time you wake up, every action you take will get you closer to your 20-year plan. And I said I wanted to be the first Dominican congressperson in the history of the United States. Like, I just made it up.” 

Of course, Rep. Adriano Espaillat beat him to that, but the rest of the goal still stands. “I've just been working slowly, not necessarily, ‘Oh, I have to be a congressman, I'm going to do everything I can,’ but every action I take should help me get closer to that. Like if I'm a sellout, I can never be elected to be congressman. If I'm not doing local things, if I'm not organizing, if I'm disconnected from my community.” After college, Reynoso was looking for an organizing job, and joined the New York chapter of ACORN where he helped unionize child care workers. From there, he went looking for a job in politics and walked into his local City Council member’s office. He worked constituent services under Diana Reyna – “the best retail politician I’ve ever met in my life” – and rose to be her chief of staff. He met Velázquez and co-founded the New Kings Democrats with other progressives who wanted to reform the Brooklyn Democratic Party. When Reyna was term-limited out, Reynoso was her pick, and he stifled disgraced former Assembly Member Vito Lopez’s comeback attempt to win the council seat at just 30 years old.

In office, Reynoso said he legislated from his experience. The kid who was stopped and frisked by the New York City Police Department in Williamsburg led on passing the Right to Know act, a controversial legislative package cracking down on those stops. From a district with a huge industrial zone, he passed a long-dormant bill to keep more trash out of the neighborhood, and another meant to overhaul and organize the wild world of commercial waste haulers. And when the pandemic could have killed Williamsburg’s restaurants and bars, he opened up the city’s outdoor dining program. 

City & State: You were considering running for mayor or comptroller in 2025, but ultimately opted against it. Were you thinking actually, Congress is still my path?

Reynoso: No, no. I never thought Nydia would retire soon. Like there's an old guard of the Democratic Party that needs to retire. Nydia is not a part of that. She's still working harder than anybody. Nydia could run another 10 years and be good in this community because of the work that she's done.

No, the reason I didn't run was because of my family. I'm very intentional about being with my kids, and I didn't want to join a campaign where I was like, half-stepping it on the campaign side, because I'm with my family. But when Nydia did retire, it's been my dream. It's been a goal. So I talked to my wife about it. She was like, 'This is different. This is what you've talked about since you've been 20 years old, in college. I get it.' So she's been super supportive. We have a system by which we're going to operate for the campaign. Yesterday, I was at the batting cages with my son for three hours, because we do baseball Thursday nights. Saturday morning, he does baseball training too, so I'm with my kid that time. And Sundays, we do family work. And the campaign hates it. Every morning I take my kids to school, which means we're working on seeing what I'm going to do for (campaigning at) train stops and buses in the morning.

You mentioned that the congresswoman retiring was a surprise. When did you find out? How did you find out?

I found out like everybody else. I found out by reading the Times.

So you didn’t get a heads up.

No. I don't think anyone did. I think that this was very personal for Nydia. Nydia has like eight “godchildren.” And any one of us could have been someone that could have been a successor. I really felt like she thought, “Let them figure it out amongst themselves.”

And how did that process go for you? 

It's exactly how it went. Everybody was talking about, who is going to run, who's not going to run, who wants to run, who doesn't want to run.

Text messages, calls, we met like three times in rooms. I met with all the elected officials locally here, and we had great conversations. We've got a lot of love for each other. And in that room, Kristen Gonzalez was there, Julia Salazar was there, Emily Gallagher, Lincoln (Restler), Jennifer (Gutiérrez), Sandy (Nurse), Alexa (Avilés) came to one of them. Tiffany Cabán was there.

Even some DSA members.

Everybody eats on our table. We might not be able to eat at theirs, but everybody eats at our table. Because we built this work together. Nydia was the one that made this land fertile for DSA. Our work and organizing to fight the machine and build progressive politics here was what made it so that people like Julia Salazar could win. But we supported them. We were a part of it. So when we were thinking about this, we brought them all in. Our goal here was to find one candidate so that we didn't need to fight, that everybody was on the same page with. And if there was a case where we're not on the same page, like, let's really talk it out, and the rest of the group could help iron it out.

Was Claire Valdez part of those conversations?

No, Claire came later. Because Claire is not one of the godchildren. She was rather new. We were still building with her. So we didn't know her like that. She came a little later when, obviously she was interested in doing it, or her name was being mentioned. Not with a Nydia group. She came into a different group.

Like a Mamdani group?

It was the (Working Families Party). They brought us together, and were like we want to do this as nicely as possible. Everybody in that table wanted to do it as nicely as possible. 

Is WFP going to endorse? 

We're waiting to get a notice from the WFP as when their process happens

This is Nydia's district. She's the powerhouse. But Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is an international figure. Have you talked to the congresswoman about this?

AOC, no. It's not her district she represents. But Nydia and her have a very strong relationship. She talks to Nydia. I think she also considers Nydia a mentor, and has a lot of respect and love for her. But I have not yet talked to AOC. 

You want to be talking to policy, but also, we all acknowledge there aren’t major differences between you and Valdez. Are there votes that you know you’d be different on in Congress?

We're going to do the best we can to try to find a distinction, but it would be hard to say that our records on the legislative side won't be very closely aligned. Once I find the legislation that I want, that maybe she hasn't talked about, I guarantee as soon as she looks at it, she'll be like, ‘yeah, this is like, right up our alley.’ DSA and the progressives, the reason we are so close together is because we agree on so much politically and policywise. There's not a lot of daylight between us.

At Valdez’s endorsement rally, they were doing this chant, “Claire was there,” and they're emphasizing that she was there at DSA events. She was very active. What's your reaction to this idea that “Claire was there?”

This is where I've got to keep it positive. That's all I've got to say. I got to keep it positive. But it's not lost upon me that people are concerned about the – and forgive my English as a second language – “nativist” feelings of (my) campaign, and “I can't believe you would say that.” And then there's a slogan that clearly is trying to paint her as someone that's been somewhere. So, you know, be careful about being quick to disparage what some people are saying while also looking to – I guess that's what I want to say. But you know, it's not lost upon me that that was said. And we know what it means. The community knows who was there. So we'll see if they agree with her slogans.