Congressman Ritchie Torres, DN.Y., was able to “feel the weight of history” on his shoulders when the freshman member of Congress first entered the House floor on January 3. The office where Rep. John F. Kennedy sat once now has Torres’s name on it.
“It was surreal for me to go to my office for the first time,” said Torres. “I never thought I would embark on a journey that would take me from public housing in the Bronx to the House of Representatives in Washington, DC”
Torres, 32, made history as the first gay Afro-Latino elected to Congress. The son of a black mother and a Puerto Rican father, he represents New York’s 15th congressional district, located entirely in the Bronx, where he was born and raised. Its district, the most democratic in the country, is 64% Latin and 30% black.
“I was raised by a single mother who raised three children on a minimum wage,” he said. “The South Bronx is full of single mothers like mine, who fought, sacrificed and suffered so that their children could have a better life than theirs. “
“My accession to Congress belongs to both my mother and me,” said Torres.
‘A bigger story’
Torres takes office during one of the most challenging times in recent United States history – more than 427,000 people were killed by the coronavirus pandemic and more than 25 million were infected with the virus. His community was hit hard; Since the start of the pandemic, hospitalizations and death rates from Covid-19 have been consistently high in the Bronx, the country’s poorest congressional district.
“Covid-19 is more than a public health crisis,” he said. “It tells a broader story about the deepest inequalities and injustices in American society – the digital divide, lack of access to fresh food, lack of income, housing insecurity, severe overcrowding, lack of access to health care, preconditions -existing – these are all manifestations of systemic racism. “
In its first week in Washington, DC, facing the effects of the pandemic would soon compete with another crisis.
A few days after Torres took office, a violent mob of supporters of then President Donald Trump invaded the Capitol. The rioters, many of them aligned with white supremacist groups and ideals, effectively interrupted a ceremonial event on January 6 in order to claim that then-elected President Joe Biden had won the November elections.
“The insurrection is not just a siege of the capital. It is a siege to the 117th Congress, the most diverse Congress in the history of the United States, “said Torres.” It is a siege to multiracial and multiethnic democracy. “
That same week, Torres joined House legislators who voted to impeach Trump.
“A year ago, if you had told me that I would become a member of Congress during an outbreak of infectious disease, that I would witness a violent attack on Capitol Hill during the counting of votes at the Electoral College and that I would vote for the impeachment of Donald Trump, I would have said: ‘It looks like a big movie,’ ”he said.
From the ‘lowest point’ to the youngest board member
Torres was born in 1988, just five minutes after his twin brother. His mother gave him the name of the late Mexican-American singer Ritchie Valens, after the release of the 1987 film “La Bamba”.
“She named my brother after the Reuben sandwich, and me after Ritchie Valens. You can deduce who the favorite son is, ”said Torres, jokingly.
His mother raised the twins and his sister in a small apartment in the New York City Housing Authority, which Torres said had mold, leaks, lead “and no consistent heating and hot water in winter”.
Before making history in Congress, Torres became the youngest member of the New York City Council at age 25 and the first openly gay candidate to be elected to a legislative post in the Bronx. As a board member, he helped secure a $ 3 billion grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency after Hurricane Sandy destroyed the deteriorating housing authority buildings and opened the first shelter for LGBTQ young adults in the Bronx.
“What is remarkable is that, seven years before that, I was at the lowest point in my life,” he said.
Torres had recently dropped out of college after struggling with depression, substance abuse and pain after the loss of his best friend, who died of an opioid overdose. “There were times when I thought about taking my own life because the world around me had collapsed,” he said.
He found an opportunity to channel his interests around affordable housing issues while working at the office of city council member Jimmy Vacca. Later, Torres ran and was elected to the City Council in 2013. “Even in his darkest moments, never lose hope,” he said. “For me, this is the lesson learned from my life.”
The ‘blessing and burden’
The pandemic reinforced Torres’ core mission “to break the cycle of racially concentrated poverty”, starting with tackling decades of federal divestment in housing authority, which is home to more than 400,000 low-income New Yorkers.
Although his political career is mainly shaped by his experience of growing in public housing, he has also campaigned on job creation initiatives, addressing health and segregation disparities in public schools and expanding services for the elderly, youth and immigrants.
“We have seen the collapse of the social safety net in America,” said Torres, “and the communities that pay the highest price are the communities of color, which were left behind by the federal government and hardest hit by Covid19.”
He recognizes that there is much to face.
“Representation is both a blessing and a burden,” he said. “I am grateful for the blessing and weight of public service; I promised my constituents that I would work wholeheartedly for them.”
“I was careful to tell them that I am not a miracle worker, I cannot take a magic wand out of nowhere and magically solve all problems, but I am a worker. I’m a fighter, ”he said.
Torres recently partnered with Rep. Darren Soto, D-Fla., Who is also of Puerto Rican origin, to urge the Biden government to release disaster recovery funds for Puerto Rico, and with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., for support essential workers on a weeklong strike to demand higher wages.
A ‘torch pass’
Torres managed to rise through the ranks of New York City Council and prevail in a primary squad last summer to replace deputy José Serrano, a 16-term Democrat from the South Bronx, who announced his retirement in 2019 after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Serrano’s departure was “a big deal,” said Ed García Conde, a longtime resident and activist in the Bronx. “Many people I know, including myself, were concerned about losing a member of the Puerto Rican Congress with all that antiquity that could be a voice for the Puerto Rican community – for us, visibility and representation remain important.”
“The South Bronx has been a dumping ground for a lot of pollution,” whether because of truck or factory traffic, said García Conde, who founded the hyperlocal news site Welcome2TheBronx. The district has high rates of asthma and other health problems, making environmental justice a key issue, he said.
During his campaign, Torres raised far more money than at least nine other opponents combined. Unlike some of his rivals, he was not restricted to accepting money from donors with connections to real estate and other corporate interests, a measure that has sparked skepticism among some progressive Democrats. Two major LGBTQ political groups, Equality PAC and The Victory Fund, have also raised funds on his behalf in an effort to give him an edge over opponent Ruben Díaz Sr., who has a history of anti-gay comments.
Torres said that although I consider myself “my own person with my own priorities and experiences, I have not forgotten that I am continuing half a century of Latin leadership tradition in the South Bronx – from Herman Badillo to Bob García, to José Serrano, for myself.” He said: “When José Serrano first entered the United States Congress, I was only two years old. Therefore, the fact that I am succeeding him at the age of 32 represents a genuine passing of the torch. “
As Torres began his first year in Congress, he said voters know their deep roots in the community, as well as their history.
“Nobody handed me anything on a silver tray,” he said. “I had to fight for everything I have in my life.”
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