Elijah Reichlin-Melnick is a former politician who served one-term as a member of the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature, while the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Established in 1777 by the Constitution of New York, its members are elected to two-year terms with no term l ...

for the 38th district. He succeeded

David Carlucci David S. Carlucci ( ; born April 3, 1981) is an American politician in Rockland County, New York. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the state senator for the 38th district, which includes most of Rockland County and parts of Westcheste ...

and was defeated by Bill Weber (New York politician) in 2022 and again in 2024.

Early life and education

Reichlin-Melnick was born and raised in Nyack,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. He attended

Nyack High School Nyack High School is a secondary school in Nyack, New York, which serves parts of Orangetown and Clarkstown, New York. The original Nyack High School building is now part of BOCES. Since 1990, Nyack High School has been located less than a m ...

and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 2006. He later earned a master's degree in city and regional planning, with a concentration in housing and real estate, from

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

in 2015.

Career

Early career

After receiving his bachelor's degree, he spent two years as an elementary school teacher at Dwight Elementary School in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

. He later served on the Nyack Village Planning Board and was elected vice president of the Rockland County Young Democrats and chairman of the Nyack Democratic Committee. He was an active member of the Nyack

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

and the Nyack Tree Committee. After leaving Dwight Elementary School, Reichlin-Melnick began working as a constituent service specialist and district representative for Congressman

Eliot Engel Eliot Lance Engel (; born February 18, 1947) is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from New York from 1989 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented a district covering portions of the north Bronx and ...

and Congresswoman

Nita Lowey Nita Sue Lowey ( ; Melnikoff; July 5, 1937 – March 15, 2025) was an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from New York from 1989 until 2021. She was a member of the Democratic Party. Lowey also served as co-dean of the ...

until 2013. After working in

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

, Reichlin-Melnick completed his master's degree, he worked as the executive assistant for

Orangetown, New York Orangetown is a town in Rockland County, New York, United States, located in the southeastern part of the county. It is northwest of New York City, north of New Jersey, east of the town of Ramapo, south of the town of Clarkstown, and west of ...

Town Supervisor Andy Stewart. He later worked as the legislative director for New York State Senator

James Skoufis James Skoufis (born October 18, 1987) is an American politician of the Democratic Party currently representing the 42nd District of the New York State Senate since 2023. Skoufis previously represented the 39th District prior to redistricting f ...

Nyack Village Board

In April 2017, Reichlin-Melnick was appointed to the Nyack Village Board to fill a vacancy left by Doug Foster. On November 7, 2017, Reichlin-Melnick was elected to a two-year term on the Village Board and was subsequently re-elected on November 3, 2019.

New York State Senate

On December 17, 2019, Reichlin-Melnick announced his candidacy for district 38 in the

. On June 23, 2020, Reichlin-Melnick defeated Clarkstown Town Clerk Justin Sweet and Spring Valley Trustee Eudson Francois in the Democratic primary election. On November 3, 2020, he defeated Republican nominee Bill Weber. In 2022, Reichlin-Melnick was defeated by Weber in a rematch. Reichlin-Melnick and Weber faced off for a third time in 2024, and on November 5, 2024, Weber again defeated Reichlin-Melnick by nearly triple the margin of his 2022 victory.

Personal life

Reichlin-Melnick's brother, Aaron, is an immigration policy expert and senior fellow at the

American Immigration Council The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), founded on October 14, 1946, is a voluntary bar association of over 15,000 attorneys and law professors who practice and teach immigration law. AILA member attorneys represent U.S. families see ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reichlin-Melnick, Elijah Living people 1984 births Cornell University alumni Rutgers University alumni Nyack High School alumni 21st-century members of the New York State Legislature