New York City's 2nd City Council district

New York City's 2nd City Council district is one of 51 districts in the New York City Council. It has been represented by Democrat Carlina Rivera since 2018, succeeding term-limited fellow Democrat Rosie Méndez.

New York City's 2nd City Council district
Government
• Councilmember	Carlina Rivera (D—Kips Bay)
Population  (2010)
• Total	161,544
Demographics
• White	56%
• Hispanic	20%
• Asian	15%
• Black	6%
• Other	3%
Registration
• Democratic	68.0%
• Republican	8.3%
• No party preference	20.4%
Registered voters (2021) 126,576

Geography

District 2 is based in Manhattan's Lower East Side and East Village, also covering the neighborhoods of Alphabet City, Gramercy Park, Kips Bay, Loisaida, Murray Hill, and Rose Hill.

The district overlaps with Manhattan Community Boards 2, 3, 5, and 6, and with New York's 7th and 12th congressional districts. It also overlaps with the 26th, 27th, and 28th districts of the New York State Senate, and with the 65th, 66th, 73rd, 74th, and 75th districts of the New York State Assembly.

Although it is majority-white, the district has a large Hispanic population concentrated in the Loisaida neighborhood. Since 1991, the district has been represented by four consecutive Hispanic councilmembers, three of whom have also been gay.

Recent election results

2023

Due to redistricting and the 2020 changes to the New York City Charter, councilmembers elected during the 2021 and 2023 City Council elections will serve two-year terms, with full four-year terms resuming after the 2025 New York City Council elections.

2023 New York City Council election, District 2

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Carlina Rivera (incumbent)	4,688	60.5
	Democratic	Allie Ryan	2,980	38.5
	Write-in		76	1.0
Total votes			7,685	100.0
General election
	Democratic	Carlina Rivera	8,627
	Working Families	Carlina Rivera	1,510
	Total	Carlina Rivera (incumbent)	10,137	92.3
	Write-in		780	7.7
Total votes			10,917	100

2021

In 2019, voters in New York City approved Ballot Question 1, which implemented ranked-choice voting in all local elections. Under the new system, voters have the option to rank up to five candidates for every local office. Voters whose first-choice candidates fare poorly will have their votes redistributed to other candidates in their ranking until one candidate surpasses the 50 percent threshold. If one candidate surpasses 50 percent in first-choice votes, then ranked-choice tabulations will not occur.

2021 New York City Council election, District 2

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Carlina Rivera (incumbent)	15,464	72.4
	Democratic	Erin Hussein	5,709	26.8
	Write-in		169	0.8
Total votes			21,342	100
General election
	Democratic	Carlina Rivera (incumbent)	18,716	79.9
	Neighborhood	Allie Ryan	2,684	11.4
	Independent	Juan Pagan	1,925	8.2
	Write-in		113	0.5
Total votes			23,438	100
	Democratic hold

2017

2017 New York City Council election, District 2

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Carlina Rivera	8,354	60.5
	Democratic	Mary Silver	2,282	16.5
	Democratic	Ronnie Sung Cho	1,181	8.6
	Democratic	Jorge Vasquez	1,040	7.5
	Democratic	Jasmin Sanchez	638	4.6
	Democratic	Erin Hussein	267	1.9
	Write-in		38	0.4
Total votes			13,800	100
General election
	Democratic	Carlina Rivera	18,047
	Working Families	Carlina Rivera	2,003
	Total	Carlina Rivera	20,050	82.7
	Republican	Jimmy McMillan	2,609
	Rent Is Too Damn High	Jimmy McMillan	228
	Total	Jimmy McMillan	2,837	11.7
	Liberal	Jasmin Sanchez	487	2.0
	Libertarian	Don Garrity	434	1.8
	Green	Manny Cavaco	375	1.5
	Write-in		59	0.3
Total votes			24,242	100
	Democratic hold

2013

2013 New York City Council election, District 2

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Rosie Méndez (incumbent)	12,507	81.6
	Democratic	Richard Del Rio	2,809	18.3
	Write-in		13	0.1
Total votes			15,329	100
General election
	Democratic	Rosie Méndez	18,928
	Working Families	Rosie Méndez	1,491
	Total	Rosie Méndez (incumbent)	20,419	93.0
	Green	Miles Budde	1,490	6.8
	Write-in		59	0.2
Total votes			21,968	100
	Democratic hold

Previous councilmembers

The district is a safe Democratic district. Between 1974 and 1991, it was represented by Miriam Friedlander, who was narrowly defeated in the 1991 Democratic Party primary by Antonio Pagán, the first openly gay politician to represent the district. Pagán's conservative stances and support for Mayor Rudy Giuliani alienated large segments of his liberal-leaning constituency. In 1997, Pagán launched an unsuccessful campaign for Manhattan Borough President; he was succeeded on the council by Margarita López. In 2005, Rosie Méndez succeeded López, and was re-elected in 2009. Carlina Rivera succeeded Méndez in 2017, becoming the district's first straight councilmember in well over two decades.