Torres, Ritchie

Ritchie Torres is a Democratic Representative from New York's 15th Congressional District, which covers much of the South Bronx. He has served in Congress since January 2021 and was reelected in 2024. Torres grew up in public housing in the Throggs Neck neighborhood of the East Bronx, raised by his single mother alongside his twin brother and sister. His early life experiences with poverty, housing instability, and health challenges shaped his legislative priorities around affordable housing and economic justice.

Before entering Congress, Torres served on the New York City Council from 2014 to 2020, where he chaired the Committee on Public Housing and served as deputy majority leader. During his city council tenure, he passed over 40 pieces of legislation and led investigations into housing conditions, predatory lending in the taxi medallion industry, and other municipal issues. In 2013, at age 25, he became New York City's youngest elected official and the first openly LGBTQ person elected to office in the Bronx.

In Congress, Torres serves on the House Committee on Financial Services and its subcommittees on Housing and Insurance, Digital Assets and Financial Technology, and National Security and Illicit Finance. He also serves on the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. His legislative work focuses on housing, financial regulation, community health, and food security, reflecting his commitment to addressing concentrated poverty and supporting working families in his district.

Torres is recognized as a co-chair of the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus and made history as the first openly gay Afro-Latino member elected to Congress. His legislative approach is grounded in his lived experience of economic hardship and his determination to fight for systemic change on behalf of his community.