Ritchie Torres Bio
Ritchie John Torres is an American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for New York’s 15th congressional district since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously represented the Bronx’s 15th district on the New York City Council from 2014 to 2020, where he chaired the Committee on Public Housing and focused on improving living conditions in public housing. Raised in public housing in the Bronx, Torres became one of the first openly gay Black members of Congress and the first openly gay Afro-Latino elected to the House.
Torres has built a reputation for his work on housing reform, tenant protections, and LGBT advocacy. He has also been active on foreign policy, environmental, and public safety issues, and is known for his outspoken pro-Israel stance within the Democratic caucus.
Early Life and Background
Ritchie John Torres was born on March 12, 1988, in the Bronx, New York. His father is Puerto Rican, and his mother is a native New Yorker who was born in the Bronx to Puerto Rican parents. Torres was raised Catholic and grew up in Throggs Neck Houses, a public housing project in the East Bronx. His single mother raised him, his twin brother, and their sister on minimum wage, and the family lived with mold, vermin, lead, and leaks. As a child, Torres was frequently hospitalized for asthma linked to the poor conditions in their apartment.
The contrast between his surroundings and nearby luxury troubled him. Torres later noted that the city-subsidized Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point Park, built across the street from public housing, helped him understand that he had to fight for struggling New Yorkers. In junior high, Torres realized he was gay but did not initially come out, fearing homophobic violence. He attended Herbert H. Lehman High School, served in the inaugural class of the Coro New York Exploring Leadership Program, and worked as an intern in the offices of the mayor and the attorney general. He came out as a sophomore during a schoolwide forum on marriage equality.
Torres enrolled at New York University but dropped out at the beginning of his sophomore year after struggling with severe depression and suicidal thoughts related to his sexuality. As he recovered, he resumed work for New York City Council Member James Vacca, eventually becoming Vacca’s housing director. In that role, he conducted site inspections and documented conditions to ensure housing problems were addressed.
Path to US Politics
Torres’s early political work grew out of his lived experience in public housing and his time serving as a housing director in the New York City Council. Those responsibilities shaped his focus on tenant rights, building conditions, and accountability for the New York City Housing Authority. He built relationships with tenant associations and housing advocates across the Bronx, which helped him develop a policy platform centered on poverty, housing, and equity.
At 25 years old, Torres ran to succeed Joel Rivera as the council member for the 15th district of the New York City Council. When he won the Democratic nomination, he became one of the first openly gay political candidates in the Bronx to secure a Democratic nomination. After winning the general election, he became the first openly gay public official in the Bronx. Torres also served as a deputy leader of the city council during his tenure.
As chair of the Committee on Public Housing and the Oversight and Investigations Committee, Torres investigated predatory lending tied to taxi medallions and the city’s Third-Party Transfer program. He helped secure funding for housing cooperatives, expanded legal aid for NYCHA tenants facing eviction through Right To Counsel 2.0, and exposed failures to address lead-paint contamination in public housing. In 2016, he served as a delegate for the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign.
Ritchie Torres Career
Early Career (2013-2019)
Torres’s first notable electoral victory came in 2013, when he won a seat on the New York City Council representing the 15th district in the Bronx. The district included Allerton, Belmont, Bronx Park, Claremont Village, Crotona Park, Fordham, Mount Eden, Mount Hope, Norwood, Parkchester, Tremont, Van Nest, West Farms, and Williamsbridge. He took office in 2014 and quickly requested the chairmanship of the council’s committee on public housing, which oversaw the New York City Housing Authority, the nation’s largest public housing system, providing housing to more than 400,000 low-income residents across 176,000 apartments in 325 complexes.
During his council tenure, Torres made the living conditions of the city’s most underserved residents a signature priority. He helped secure $3 million for Concourse Village, a nearly 1,900-unit housing cooperative in the South Bronx, and nearly $1 million to renovate Dennis Lane Apartments. He also played a crucial role in exposing the city’s failures to address lead-paint contamination. In 2018, he became chair of the Oversight and Investigations Committee, where he led investigations into taxi medallion predatory loans and the Third-Party Transfer program.
Congressional Campaign and Election (2019-2020)
In July 2019, Torres announced his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives for New York’s 15th congressional district, seeking to succeed Representative José E. Serrano. The 15th congressional district is the nation’s poorest in terms of median income, and Torres said he was seeking the office to pursue his legislative passions of overhauling public housing and focusing on the issues of concentrated poverty. In his announcement, Torres shared his history of depression.
His main opponent in the Democratic primary was Rubén Díaz Sr., a conservative Democrat and Pentecostal minister who had a decades-long history of making homophobic remarks. Torres said he saw Díaz as temperamentally and ideologically indistinguishable from Donald Trump. Torres was endorsed by the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund and the Congressional Equality Caucus, and he ultimately defeated Díaz in the June 23 primary. The general election followed in November 2020, and Torres won decisively, all but assured by the heavily Democratic, Latino-majority district.
U.S. House of Representatives (2021-Present)
Torres took office on January 3, 2021. Upon his swearing-in, he became the first openly gay Afro-Latin American member of Congress. He represents the poorest congressional district in the United States. According to a FiveThirtyEight analysis, Torres voted with President Joe Biden’s stated position 100% of the time in the 117th Congress.
Among his legislative actions, Torres introduced H.R. 4980 in August 2021, which would require passengers on flights to or from U.S. airports to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. He was among the 46 Democrats who voted against final passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 in the House, citing new SNAP requirements and the diversion of $20 billion in IRS funding. In 2025, he reintroduced the B.O.D.E.G.A. Act, which would offer federal funds to bodegas to cover the cost of security equipment such as panic buttons and security cameras.
Torres serves as one of nine co-chairs of the Congressional Equality Caucus and as one of the co-chairs of the Congressional Albanian Issues Caucus in the 117th United States Congress. He has been a longtime outspoken supporter of Israel, with Politico describing him as Israel’s loudest supporter in Congress. In 2024, he successfully ran for reelection, defeating Conservative Party candidate Gonzalo Duran.
Notable Events and Milestones
A signature milestone in Torres’s career came on January 3, 2021, when he was sworn in as the first openly gay Afro-Latino member of Congress, alongside Mondaire Jones as one of the first openly gay Black men elected to the House. He has been vocal on foreign policy, foreign aid packages, and antisemitism on college campuses, and he has co-signed letters and introduced legislation tied to those priorities.
Ritchie Torres Career Wins
Torres has compiled a record of electoral victories at the local and federal levels, including a New York City Council seat, a U.S. House primary, multiple general elections, and a successful 2024 reelection. His wins have often hinged on high turnout in heavily Democratic districts and strong support from LGBT advocacy organizations.
Congressional Highlights
Torres won the 2020 Democratic primary for New York’s 15th congressional district after a hard-fought contest against Rubén Díaz Sr., and he went on to win the general election that November. He was sworn in on January 3, 2021, becoming the first openly gay Afro-Latino elected to Congress. In 2024, Torres ran for reelection and successfully defeated Conservative Party candidate Gonzalo Duran, who was endorsed by the Republican Party.
Other Wins and Achievements
Before his congressional career, Torres won election to the New York City Council in 2013, becoming the first openly gay public official in the Bronx. He has also been instrumental in securing millions of dollars in housing funds, expanding legal aid for tenants, and exposing lead-paint and predatory-lending issues in his district.
Ritchie Torres Family
Family Background and Heritage
Torres was raised by his single mother, along with his twin brother and their sister, in the Throggs Neck Houses in the Bronx. His father is Puerto Rican, and his mother is a native New Yorker who was born in the Bronx to Puerto Rican parents. He was raised Catholic and has cited his upbringing in public housing as the driving force behind his commitment to fighting concentrated poverty.
Personal Life
Torres came out as gay during a schoolwide forum on marriage equality while a sophomore at Herbert H. Lehman High School. He has publicly shared his struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts during his early years, experiences that he has said shaped his commitment to mental health awareness and LGBT advocacy.