2025-11-29
Caribbean Matters: Honoring Rep. Nydia Velázquez's 3 decades of service
Caribbean Matters is a weekly series from Daily Kos. Hope you’ll join us here every Saturday. If you are unfamiliar with the region, check out Caribbean Matters: Getting to know the countries of the Caribbean. By now most readers here, and folks who pay attention to New York City politics, are aware that Rep. Nydia Velázquez has announced that she will be retiring. Maya King, writing for The New York Times reported on the trailblazer:Representative Nydia M. Velázquez, a Democratic trailblazer who was the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress, said on Thursday that she would not seek re-election in 2026 at the completion of her 16th term.Ms. Velázquez, 72, cited the calls for generational change in her party, acknowledging that she had considered retiring for the last few years. But after Zohran Mamdani’s success in the November mayoral election, she felt confident that a new cohort would continue her efforts.“I love this work and I love my district, but I believe now is the right moment to step aside and allow a new generation of leaders to step forward,” she said in an emotional phone interview from her office in Washington. “After devoting so much energy and so much time to help elect young leaders, I feel at ease,” she added, pointing to Mr. Mamdani’s election.NY1 also covered the mixed feelings on her retirement from a political career that began in 1992:Velázquez defeated a nine-term incumbent in a newly drawn majority-Hispanic district to become the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress.“She never took on weak people. She took on the powerful. That’s what she’s done her whole life — opening up doors,” NY1 political commentator Gerson Borrero said. [...]Velázquez was the first Latina to chair the Small Business Committee. She used that position to elevate women-owned businesses through a contracting program she started.“She knows that if you fund right: a nail salon, a hair salon, a cleaning business, a small restaurant, a mom and pop store — that these people had the right ideas, they didn’t have the money,” Borrero said.Known as “La Luchadora” or The Fighter, Velázquez not only championed her causes but pushed for more Latina representation at the highest levels.The 16-term congresswoman helped appoint Justice Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court as the first Latina.Now, after more than 30 years in office, the congresswoman said she is proud of her work, but it’s time to step aside.“This was not an easy decision, but I believe that the time is right for me to move on and for a new generation of leaders to step forward,” she said in a statement Thursday, in part. [...]“She was one of the first to prove that you don’t need to be invited. You don’t need to have someone make a space for you. You can kick down the door and bring your community to Congress,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said.Almost immediately after the announcement of her decision not to run again, speculation began on who would be competing for her seat, which covers parts of Queens and North Brooklyn, including Long Island City, Astoria, Ridgewood, Bushwick, Williamsburg, and East New York. Tsehai Alfred and Peter Sterne at City & State NY wrote about those eying the seat, which is one of the most left-leaning in the country:As Rep. Nydia Velázquez, the Puerto Rican progressive pioneer nicknamed “La Luchadora” for her willingness to fight for her community, exits her historic 16-term seat, her Thursday retirement announcement leaves a competitive primary in its wake.Velázquez’s congressional district, which covers parts of northern Brooklyn and western Queens, is a leftist hotbed, having overwhelmingly voted for Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the primary. This upcoming congressional primary will likely see a wave of progressives – including members of the Democratic Socialists of America – seeking to capitalize off of Mamdani’s momentum. The central question, according to Democratic strategist Trip Yang, will be if Velázquez’s successor is “socialist or a non-socialist progressive.”The story mentions the names of lots of possible contenders: Brooklyn borough president Antonio Reynoso, District 59 state Sen. Kristen Gonzalez, District 18 state Sen. Julia Salazar, District 37 Assemblymember Claire Valdez, District 34 City Councilmember Jennifer Gutiérrez, District 37 City Councilmember Sandy Nurse, District 33 City Councilmember Lincoln Restler, District 22 City Councilmember Tiffany Cabán, and District 26 City Councilmember Julie Won.Emily Ngo, Nicholas Wu and Jeff Coltin at Politico also reported on her retirement.I’ve covered her in several stories: here, and here, and here.She was recently spotlighted by Daily Kos contributor bilboteach in his weekly series on the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. On her background growing up in Puerto Rico, he cited a 1992 New York Times article detailing her background by Maria Newman:In a small wooden house on the banks of the Rio Limon, flanked by verdant fields of sugar cane swaying in the warm breeze, Nydia M. Velazquez learned about politics.The talk at the dinner table for the family of 10, Ms. Velazquez recalled, was always about the status of their island commonwealth and who controlled it, or about the rights of workers and how to organize. Her father, Don Benito Velazquez, a poor sugar-cane cutter with a third-grade education but a penchant for learning, was so passionate about the issues that he used to jump on the back of flatbed trucks to deliver speeches. Eventually, he founded a political party in their hometown."I always wanted to be like my father," said Ms. VelasquezThank you, Rep. Velázquez for all you have done for both your constituents and for the people of Puerto Rico, who have no voting representation in Congress due to their colonial status. Please join me in the comments section below for more on “La Luchadora” and for the weekly Caribbean News Roundup.
