James G. Van Bramer (born August 19, 1969) is an American politician. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, who served in the New York City Council and represented the 26th district from 2010 to 2021, which includes Astoria, Long Island City, Sunnyside, and Woodside in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

. Van Bramer is a progressive who was one of the few members of the City Council to endorse

Cynthia Nixon Cynthia Ellen Nixon (born April 9, 1966) is an American actress, activist, and theater director. For her portrayal of Miranda Hobbes in the HBO series ''Sex and the City'' (1998–2004), she won the 2004 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supp ...

's campaign in the

2018 New York gubernatorial election The 2018 New York gubernatorial election occurred on November 6, 2018. Incumbent Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo won re-election to a third term, defeating Republican Marc Molinaro and several minor party candidates. Cuomo received 59.6% of th ...

Early life and education

Van Bramer was born and grew up in the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

borough of

, the son of retired active

union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

members. His father, William Van Bramer, was a lifelong member of Printers' and Pressman's Union Local 2. His mother, Elizabeth, helped support the family by taking a variety of jobs in their neighborhood. She was a member of Local 1893 of the International Brotherhood of Painters. Van Bramer graduated from

William Cullen Bryant High School William Cullen Bryant High School, or William C. Bryant High School, and W.C. Bryant High School, or Bryant High School for short, is a secondary school in Queens, New York City, United States serving grades 9 through 12. Name It is named in hon ...

. In 1994, he graduated from St. Johns University.

Career

Before joining the City Council, Van Bramer served as the Chief External Affairs Officer of the Queens Public Library. In this capacity, he was the library's link between community members and government. He worked as a reporter for Lesbian and Gay New York (now ''

Gay City News ''Gay City News'' (stylized as ''gcn'') is a free weekly newspaper based in New York City focusing on local and national issues relating to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. It was founded in 1994 as ''Lesbian Gay New Y ...

'') a community newspaper, where he brought attention to the AIDS epidemic and bias/hate crimes. He represents his neighborhood and the 37th Assembly District on the New York State Democratic Committee. In September 2007, he was named one of ''

City & State ''City & State'' is a political journalism organization based in New York City. The company publishes a weekly magazine covering politics and government in New York City and New York State that is distributed to New York State legislators, count ...

s "40 under 40" for being a young influential member of New York City politics. Van Bramer currently lives in

Sunnyside Gardens Sunnyside Gardens is a community within Sunnyside, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. The area was the first development in the United States patterned after the ideas of the garden city movement initiated in England in the f ...

with his husband, Dan Hendrick. They married on July 28, 2012. Van Bramer is one of four openly LGBTQ+ members of the New York City Council, alongside Corey Johnson, Daniel Dromm and

Carlos Menchaca Carlos Menchaca (born September 11, 1980) is an American politician who served as a member of the New York City Council for the 38th district. He is a Democrat. His district included the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Sunset Park, Red Hook, Green ...

New York City Council

Van Bramer was first elected to the New York City Council to represent the 26th district on November 3, 2009. He was re-elected in 2013. On January 22, 2014, Van Bramer was chosen to be the New York City Council's

Majority Leader In U.S. politics (as well as in some other countries utilizing the presidential system), the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.

, the second-most powerful position in the body. He was also named to serve as co-chair of a budget negotiating team set up by Speaker

Melissa Mark-Viverito Melissa Mark-Viverito (born April 1, 1969) is an American Democratic Party (United States), Democratic politician and former speaker of the New York City Council from 2014 to 2017, as well as councilmember for the New York City's 8th City Council ...

. He was elected to a third 4-year term on November 7, 2017 and reappointed to the budget negotiating team by Speaker Corey Johnson. Van Bramer was appointed to chair the Council’s Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Relations Committee. He has served as chair of this committee throughout his tenure as a council member.

References

External links

Official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Bramer, Jimmy 1969 births Living people American people of Dutch descent Candidates in the 2021 United States elections New York City Council members New York (state) Democrats American LGBT city council members LGBT people from New York (state) People from Queens, New York St. John's University (New York City) alumni 21st-century American politicians Gay politicians

Early life and education

Career

New York City Council

See also

References

External links