Walter T. Mosley, III (born September 19, 1967) is an American politician who represented the 57th district of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

. He serves the neighborhoods of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, and parts of Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant. In 2020, Mosley lost his primary to nurse and political newcomer

Phara Souffrant Forrest Phara Souffrant Forrest (born February 5, 1989) is an American politician, nurse, and tenant activist. A member of the Democratic Socialists of America, Forrest is the assembly member for the 57th district of the New York State Assembly. After n ...

Early life and education

Mosley was born in Brooklyn, New York. His mother is Marilyn Mosley, the president of Progressive Association for Political Action (PAPA) and chief of staff to the Speaker of the House Corey Johnson. His father is Walter T. Mosley, Sr., a retired insurance broker who currently lives in Ohio. He attended

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

, where he obtained his Bachelor degree in

Criminology Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and so ...

. He received his J.D. degree from Howard University in 1998.

Earlier career

Mosley served as a district leader, senior adviser to the Deputy Speaker of New York State Assembly and

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

and senior consultant to the

before running to for Assembly.

New York State Assembly

Mosley ran to fill Hakeem Jeffries's Assembly seat in the 57th district in 2012 when Jeffries ran for Congress. Mosley won the Democratic primary with 62.8% of the vote, beating out Olanike T. Alabi and Martine Guerrier. He handily defeated Republican challenger Francis J. Voyticky, who Hakeem Jeffries had beaten in 2010, in the general election with 97.6% of the vote. Mosley ran unopposed in 2014, 2016, and 2018, running on both the Democratic and Working Families Party lines in 2016 and 2018.

East Ramapo School District bill

He was originally a co-sponsor of a

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

to place a monitor with veto power in the East Ramapo School District in

Rockland County Rockland County is the southernmost county on the west side of the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. It is about from the Bronx at their closest points. The county's population, as of th ...

, an Orthodox Jewish-dominated school district that was diverting funds to yeshivas. Mosley took his name off after meeting with both sides, saying that the discussion about the bill has anti-Semitic overtones. He refused to meet with the sponsor of the bill, a 71-year-old former East Ramapo schoolteacher, and ultimately did not vote on the bill.

2020 Democratic primary defeat

Mosley faced his first primary challenger since 2012 in the Democratic primary on June 23, 2020 against

. While Mosley led Forrest by 588 votes on election night,

absentee ballots An absentee ballot is a vote cast by someone who is unable or unwilling to attend the official polling station to which the voter is normally allocated. Methods include voting at a different location, postal voting, proxy voting and online vot ...

were more significant than usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On July 22, 2020, once absentee ballots had been counted, Forrest was declared the winner of the primary by over 2,500 votes.

Electoral history

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mosley, Walter 1967 births Living people Politicians from Brooklyn Working Families Party politicians Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly 21st-century American politicians African-American state legislators in New York (state) Howard University School of Law alumni Pennsylvania State University alumni American people of Bahamian descent 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people