Nydia Velazquez (Democratic Party) is a member of the U.S. House, representing New York's 7th Congressional District. She assumed office on January 3, 2013. Her current term ends on January 3, 2025.
Velazquez (Democratic Party) is running for re-election to the U.S. House to represent New York's 7th Congressional District. She declared candidacy for the 2024 election.
Velazquez previously represented New York's 12th Congressional District from 1993 to 2013. She was the first Puerto Rican woman elected to the U.S. House. She served as chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus from 2008 to 2011.
Before her career in the United States House of Representatives, Velázquez was a professor at the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao and then at New York's Hunter College.
As of a 2014 analysis of multiple outside rankings, Velazquez is an average Democratic member of Congress, meaning she will vote with the Democratic Party on the majority of bills.
Velázquez was born in Yabucoa, PR. She earned a B.A. from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, and an M.A. from New York University.
After earning a master’s degree on scholarship from NYU, Velázquez taught Puerto Rican studies at CUNY’s Hunter College in 1981. In 1983, Velázquez was appointed Special Assistant to Congressman Edolphus Towns. One year later, she became the first Latina appointed to serve on the New York City Council. She was the director of the Migration Division Office, Puerto Rico Department of Labor and Human Resources from 1986-1989, and from 1989-1992 was director of the Department of Puerto Rican Community Affairs in the United States for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
