Politics and Public Life

Brooklyn has sent women and men to the highest tables of American government, from the House and the Senate to the Supreme Court, and into the city's own Gracie Mansion and Borough Hall. This chapter profiles nine people from across the political spectrum and the branches of government, with offices and documented positions described neutrally and in the present or past tense as of October 2026.

Shirley Chisholm

Shirley Chisholm (born Shirley Anita St. Hill) was born in Brooklyn on November 30, 1924, to immigrant parents of Afro-Guyanese and Afro-Barbadian descent. She spent part of her childhood with her grandmother in Barbados and returned to New York in 1934. She attended Girls' High School in Bedford-Stuyvesant and graduated from Brooklyn College in 1946, majoring in sociology.⁵⁵

Before entering politics she worked in early childhood education, including as director of the Friend in Need Nursery in Brownsville in 1953-1954, and later as an educational consultant to New York City's Bureau of Child Welfare. She served in the New York State Assembly from 1965 to 1968, and in 1968 was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the 12th district, centred on Bedford-Stuyvesant. She was the first Black woman elected to Congress and served until 1983.^55,56

In 1971 she was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus and of the National Women's Political Caucus. In 1972 she sought the Democratic presidential nomination, the first Black candidate to run for a major party's nomination and the first woman to run for the Democratic one. She died on January 1, 2005, and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.^55,56

• 1969-1983Years in the U.S. House
• 2015Presidential Medal of Freedom, posthumous

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born Joan Ruth Bader on March 15, 1933, in Brooklyn, and grew up in Flatbush. She attended James Madison High School in Brooklyn, then Cornell University (B.A., 1954) and Columbia Law School (LL.B., 1959). She taught at Rutgers Law School from 1963 to 1972 and at Columbia Law School from 1972 to 1980.^57,58

In 1972 she co-founded the American Civil Liberties Union's Women's Rights Project, and between 1973 and 1976 she argued six gender-discrimination cases before the Supreme Court, winning five. President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 1980.⁵⁷

President Bill Clinton nominated her to the Supreme Court in 1993, and the Senate confirmed her 96-3 on August 3, 1993. She served until her death on September 18, 2020, and is described by Britannica as the second woman to sit on the Court and the leader of its liberal bloc. Among her opinions, she wrote the majority opinion in United States v. Virginia (1996), and dissented in Ledbetter v. Goodyear (2007).^57,58

• 1993-2020Years on the Supreme Court
• 96-3Senate confirmation vote

Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders was born in Brooklyn on September 8, 1941, and grew up in Midwood. He attended P.S. 197 and James Madison High School, spent 1959-1960 at Brooklyn College, and graduated from the University of Chicago in 1964. He moved to Vermont in 1968.^59,60

Running as an independent, he was elected mayor of Burlington, Vermont, in 1981 and served until 1989. He represented Vermont in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1991 to 2007 and has served in the U.S. Senate since January 3, 2007. He is described as the longest-serving independent in congressional history; he caucuses with the Senate Democrats.⁵⁹

Sanders describes himself as a democratic socialist and has advocated policies such as single-payer health care and tuition-free college. He sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020, finishing second both times. After winning re-election in 2024 he began his fourth Senate term, and he is the ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.^59,60

• 2007Year he entered the U.S. Senate
• 1981-1989Mayor of Burlington, Vermont

Rudy Giuliani

Rudolph (Rudy) Giuliani was born on May 28, 1944, in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. When he was seven his family moved to Garden City South on Long Island, and he later commuted back to Brooklyn to attend Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School, graduating in 1961. He earned degrees from Manhattan College (1965) and New York University School of Law (1968).⁶¹

A Republican, he served as Associate Attorney General under President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1983 and as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1983 to 1989. He lost the 1989 mayoral election to David Dinkins, won in 1993 and was re-elected in 1997, serving as mayor of New York City from January 1, 1994, to December 31, 2001. Britannica notes he is remembered for his response to the September 11, 2001 attacks. He withdrew from the 2008 Republican presidential race on January 30, 2008.^61,62

In later years he was involved in efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election. He was disbarred in New York on July 2, 2024, and in the District of Columbia on September 26, 2024. In 2023 a court found him liable in a defamation suit brought by two Georgia election workers, and in November 2025 he received a federal pardon from President Donald Trump.^61,62

Chuck Schumer

Charles E. (Chuck) Schumer was born in Midwood, Brooklyn, on November 23, 1950, and graduated as valedictorian of James Madison High School in 1967. He attended Harvard College (1971) and Harvard Law School (1974), and his official biography says he still lives in Brooklyn.^63,64

He was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1974 and took office in 1975. In 1980 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, serving a Brooklyn- and Queens-based district from January 3, 1981, to January 3, 1999. In 1998 he defeated incumbent Senator Al D'Amato, 54 percent to 44 percent, and has served in the Senate since January 3, 1999.^63,64

He has led the Senate Democratic Caucus since January 3, 2017. He was Majority Leader from January 20, 2021, to January 3, 2025, the first Jewish leader in the Senate's history. As of early October 2026 he holds the title of Senate Democratic Leader and has said he will seek another term in the post; reporting notes that some Democratic Senate nominees have said they would oppose him, and leadership elections are typically held in early December.^63,65

• 1999Year he entered the U.S. Senate
• 2017Became Senate Democratic leader

Al Sharpton

Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. was born on October 3, 1954, in Brooklyn. His family moved from Hollis, Queens, to public housing in Brownsville after his father left in 1963. He finished high school at Samuel J. Tilden High School in 1972 and attended Brooklyn College for two years. Britannica reports that he was ordained a Pentecostal minister at age 10.^66,67

In 1991 he founded the National Action Network, a civil rights organization. He gained national prominence in the 1980s, leading a march through Howard Beach, Queens, in 1986 after the death of Michael Griffith, and publicizing the 1987 Tawana Brawley case, in which a grand jury concluded the allegations were fabricated; Sharpton and two attorneys were later found liable for defamation in a civil suit.⁶⁶

He sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and was unsuccessful. He hosts the syndicated radio program Keepin' It Real, and since 2011 has hosted a news-and-opinion program on MSNBC, now MS NOW, where he is a weekend host of PoliticsNation.^66,67

Letitia James

Letitia "Tish" James was born in Brooklyn on October 18, 1958, and raised in Park Slope. She attended Fort Hamilton High School in Bay Ridge, Lehman College (B.A., 1981) and Howard University School of Law (J.D., 1987). She worked as a public defender for the Legal Aid Society and, in 1999, became the first assistant attorney general in charge of the state Attorney General's Brooklyn regional office.⁶⁸

She served on the New York City Council for the 35th district, covering areas including Clinton Hill, Fort Greene and Bedford-Stuyvesant, from 2004 to 2013, and as the city's Public Advocate from 2014 to 2018. Sworn in as New York State Attorney General on January 1, 2019, she is the first Black person and the first woman elected to the office. She was re-elected in 2022.⁶⁸

In February 2024 a court ruled for her office in a civil fraud case against Donald Trump; in August 2025 an appeals court upheld liability but voided the penalty as excessive. In October 2025 she was indicted in federal court in Virginia on bank-fraud charges and pleaded not guilty; the case was dismissed on November 24, 2025, because the prosecutor was found unlawfully appointed, and grand juries later declined to re-indict. Her lawyers described the prosecution as retribution. She is seeking a third term in the November 3, 2026 election.^68,69

Eric Adams

Eric Adams was born on September 1, 1960, in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and spent part of his childhood in Bushwick before his family moved to Queens. He served in the New York City Transit Police and then the NYPD from 1984 to 2006, retiring as a captain, with assignments that included precincts in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.⁷⁰

He represented a Brooklyn district in the New York State Senate from 2007 to 2013 and was Brooklyn Borough President from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2021. He was mayor of New York City from January 1, 2022, to December 31, 2025, and was succeeded by Zohran Mamdani on January 1, 2026.^70,71

In September 2024 he was indicted on federal charges including bribery and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations; he pleaded not guilty and said the case was retaliation for his criticism of the Biden administration's handling of the migrant crisis. In February 2025 the Justice Department directed prosecutors to drop the charges, and on April 2, 2025, Judge Dale Ho dismissed the indictment with prejudice, stating that the dismissal expressed no opinion on Adams's guilt or innocence.⁷⁰

• 2014-2021Brooklyn Borough President
• 2022-2025Mayor of New York City

Hakeem Jeffries

Hakeem Jeffries was born on August 4, 1970, at Brooklyn Hospital Center and raised in Crown Heights, the son of a state substance-abuse counselor and a social worker. He graduated from Midwood High School in 1988, then earned degrees from Binghamton University (1992), Georgetown University (M.P.P., 1994) and New York University School of Law (1997). He practiced law at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and worked as a litigator for Viacom and CBS.⁷²

He served in the New York State Assembly from 2007 to 2012. After Representative Ed Towns announced his retirement, Jeffries won the 2012 Democratic primary and has represented New York's 8th congressional district, in central and south Brooklyn, since January 3, 2013. He chaired the House Democratic Caucus from 2019 to 2023, was a House manager in the first impeachment trial of Donald Trump in 2020, and was a key sponsor of the First Step Act, signed on December 21, 2018.^72,73

Elected unopposed to succeed Nancy Pelosi as the House Democratic leader, he has held the post since January 3, 2023, and is the first Black American to lead a party caucus in either chamber of Congress. His official biography says he lives in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.^72,73

• 2013Year he entered the U.S. House
• 2023Became House Democratic Leader

1. 1969

   Shirley Chisholm takes her seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

2. 1981

   Bernie Sanders becomes mayor of Burlington, Vermont, and Chuck Schumer enters the U.S. House.

3. 1993

   Ruth Bader Ginsburg is confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

4. 1994

   Rudy Giuliani becomes mayor of New York City.

5. 2014

   Eric Adams becomes Brooklyn Borough President.

6. 2019

   Letitia James is sworn in as New York State Attorney General.

7. 2023

   Hakeem Jeffries becomes House Democratic Leader.

8. 2026

   Zohran Mamdani succeeds Eric Adams as mayor of New York City.