Ritchie Torres
Ritchie Torres, a Democrat who has represented New York's 15th congressional district since 2021 after serving on the New York City Council, faces Republican Stylo Sapaskis in his 2026 re-election race.
2026 Races & Market Forecast
Live TruthIndex™ and prediction market consensus for races contested by Ritchie Torres.
- Born
- March 12, 1988
- Birthplace
- The Bronx, New York
- Education
- Herbert H. Lehman High School
New York University (attended)
Biography & Campaign Analysis
Background
Ritchie Torres was born on March 12, 1988, in the Bronx, to a Puerto Rican father and a mother born in the Bronx to Puerto Rican parents.
Raised by his mother alongside a twin brother and a sister in Throggs Neck Houses, a public housing project in the East Bronx, he was frequently hospitalized for asthma caused by mold in the family apartment.
He attended Herbert H. Lehman High School and enrolled at New York University, dropping out at the beginning of his sophomore year while suffering from severe depression. As he recovered, he resumed working for council member James Vacca, eventually becoming Vacca's housing director.
Career
At 25, Torres ran for the 15th district seat on the New York City Council, and his victory made him the first openly gay public official in the Bronx.
He served on the council from 2014 to 2020, chairing the Committee on Public Housing, which oversees the New York City Housing Authority, and later the Oversight and Investigations Committee, where he focused on predatory lending tied to taxi medallions and the city's Third Party Transfer Program.
He was also a deputy majority leader. In July 2019 he announced a bid to succeed Representative José E. Serrano in New York's 15th congressional district, won the November 2020 general election and took office on January 3, 2021.
With Mondaire Jones, he became one of the first openly gay Black men elected to Congress, and he served as one of nine co-chairs of the Congressional Equality Caucus in the 117th Congress.
2026 race
Ritchie Torres is running for re-election in New York's 15th congressional district, based in the West Bronx and including Mott Haven, Morrisania, Tremont, Belmont, Norwood and Riverdale. First elected in 2020, he was re-elected with 76.5% of the vote in 2024.
In the 2026 Democratic primary Torres won 71.8% of the vote, defeating former state assemblymember and former DNC vice chair Michael Blake, who took 21.8%, and LaRouche Youth Movement activist Jose Vega, who took 5.7%.
His Republican opponent in the general election on November 3, 2026, is Stylo Sapaskis.
The ballot also includes Gonzalo Duran of the Conservative Party, a conservative activist who was a nominee for the seat in 2024, Andre Easton of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and Vega on the Speak The Truth line.