Brian Benjamin
Introduction
Brian A. Benjamin is the Senator for the 30th District of the New York Senate. He is a Democrat. The district includes parts of the neighborhoods of East Harlem, Hamilton Heights, Harlem, Morningside Heights, the Upper East Side, the Upper West Side, Washington Heights and Yorkville in Manhattan.
Life and career
Benjamin was born to Caribbean immigrant parents before attending Brown University and later Harvard Business School. He later went on to work in finance, serve as the Richmond Field Director in Terry McAuliffe’s gubernatorial campaign and interned in the office of Bill Lynch & Associates. In 2012, he served as a delegate for President Barack Obama and as a member of President Obama’s National Finance Committee.
Formerly, he served as the Chair of Community Board #10 in Manhattan. He is an alumni-elected trustee of Brown. Benjamin attends First Corinthian Baptist Church.
New York state Senate
In 2017, Senator Bill Perkins announced that he would run for a vacant seat on the New York City Council, that had become vacant when Inez Dickens resigned to take a seat in the New York Assembly. Following Perkins' subsequent victory for the vacant Council seat, Benjamin announced that he would run to succeed Perkins in the Senate.
Benjamin was selected by the Manhattan Democratic Committee as their candidate for a special election called for the seat by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on May 23, 2017. With the seat being overwhelmingly Democratic, Benjamin defeated Republican Dawn Simmons and Reform candidate Ruben Dario Vargas with over 91% of the vote. He was sworn into the seat on May 24, 2017.