Rafael Espinal

Life and career

Espinal has lived in Brooklyn all his life, while his parents are from the Dominican Republic. He's the third of six children. He was raised in Cypress Hills, attending and graduating from New York City public schools, P.S. 108, I.S. 302, and Franklin K. Lane High School. Espinal attended Queens College and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in English.

He first entered public service as an aide to City Councilman Erik Martin Dilan, ultimately serving as his Chief of Staff.

New York State Assembly

In his first campaign, Espinal won the open 54th district seat in the New York State Assembly in a special election held on September 13, 2011. He left his Assembly post to run and win a seat on the Council, replacing Erik Martin Dilan The seat was left vacant after Darryl Towns resigned from the post in order to take a position with Governor Andrew Cuomo's administration. The assembly district represents parts of Bushwick, East New York, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Cypress Hills, and Cityline in Brooklyn.

Espinal had endorsements from the Brooklyn Democratic Party, the Republican Party and the Conservative Party of New York State. In a tight race, Espinal defeated Jesus Gonzalez running on the Working Families Party line and Deidra Towns running on her party platform, "Community First".

In 2012, Espinal was named one of City & State's "New York City Rising Stars: 40 Under 40" for his work as New York State Assemblyman.

New York City Council

In 2013, Espinal opted to leave the state Assembly to run for the New York City Council to succeed Erik Martin Dilan, and won the primary and general to take the seat in 2014.

In 2014 Mayor Bill de Blasio announced an affordable housing plan that would create over 3,000 units of affordable housing in the Cypress Hills, East New York, and Ocean Hill portions of his district. Espinal used the opportunity to advocate for funding to address all of the social and infrastructure issues his community had experienced for decades. While facing opposition from a citywide advocacy group, Espinal was able to secure what some have called the most comprehensive rezoning plan in the City of New York, over a quarter of a billion dollars to address unemployment, crumbling infrastructure, and affordable housing issues. The New York Times endorsed Espinal's move and stated that "Espinal did right by his constituents"

In 2017 Espinal introduced a bill calling for the full repeal of the New York City Cabaret Law, a regulation introduced in 1926 and often called racist, homophobic and authoritarian by its opponents.