James Sanders Jr. (born 1957) is 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 ...

, serving since January 2013. He represents the 10th district, which includes the

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

neighborhoods of Richmond Hill,

South Ozone Park South Ozone Park is a neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens. It is just north of John F. Kennedy International Airport, between Aqueduct Racetrack to the west and the Van Wyck Expressway to the east. A ...

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

Rochdale Village Rochdale Village (pronounced ) is a housing cooperative in the southeastern corner of the New York City borough of Queens. Located in Community District 12, Rochdale Village is grouped as part of Greater Jamaica, corresponding to the former T ...

, Rosedale and parts of

Far Rockaway Far Rockaway is a neighborhood on the eastern part of the Rockaway peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. It is the easternmost section of the Rockaways. The neighborhood extends from Beach 32nd Street east to the Nassau County li ...

Early life and education

Sanders was born at the Hammel Houses in Far Rockaway. He attended public schools throughout the Rockaways then attended

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

. Sanders served as a Marine.

Career

In 2001, Sanders won election to the 31st district of the

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City in the United States. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government mod ...

in an

underdog An underdog is a person or group in a competition, usually in sports and creative works, who is largely expected to lose. The party, team, or individual expected to win is called the favorite or wikt:top dog, top dog. In the case where an under ...

win against powerful candidates James Blake and Charlotte Jefferson. Blake had received the support of

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be ...

councilwoman Juanita Watkins. On the council, Sanders was the first African-American to sit as Chair of the

Economic Development Committee The National Economic Development Council (NEDC) was an economic planning forum set up in 1962 in the United Kingdom to bring together management, trades unions and government – a form of tripartism – in an attempt to address Britain's relativ ...

'. In July 2009, Sanders was reported to have shown up for only 61% of City Council meetings for fiscal year 2009, the second-fewest on the list. However, he has attributed this to the near fatal car crash that he had in the fall of 2008 which also injured his staffers,

Donovan Richards Donovan J. Richards Jr. (born April 9, 1983) is an American politician serving as the Borough President of Queens. He is also a former New York City Council member, having represented the 31st district. He is a member of the Democratic Party. ...

and Mike Duvall. In 2009, he was challenged for reelection from candidates Michael Duncan, Jacques Leandre, and Frederick Lewis. He was re-elected with 40% of the vote, with his next leading opponent, Jacques Leandre, receiving 19%. His council seat is now held by his former District Manager

. In early 2007, Sanders endorsed then-Senator

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

for

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

and traveled to

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Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, and

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to campaign for him. He became an Obama

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and represented his district at the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 18 ...

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. In 2015, Sanders endorsed Senator

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...

for President of the United States in the 2016 Democratic primaries and the 2016 general election. He endorsed Bernie Sanders again for the 2020 Primary.

New York Senate

In 2012, Sanders, who would have been term-limited in the City Council and unable to run again in 2013, opted to primary Senator

Shirley Huntley Shirley L. Huntley (born June 29, 1938) is an American politician who is formerly a New York State Senator, serving from 2007 to 2012. Huntley represented Senate District 10 in Queens County, which included Jamaica, South Jamaica, Springfield ...

, who was facing corruption charges. He would go on to win with 56% of the vote, winning the general election unopposed. He has been unopposed in the general election ever since. In December 2015, Sanders filed papers to challenge Congressman

Gregory Meeks Gregory Weldon Meeks (born September 25, 1953) is an American lawyer and politician who has been a U.S. representative from New York since 1998. He is a member of the Democratic Party and chaired the House Committee on Foreign Affairs from 20 ...

in the Democratic primary for

New York's 5th congressional district New York's 5th congressional district is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives, represented by United States Democratic Party, Democrat Gregory Meeks. The district is located in Queens. A plurality of the distr ...

. However, he dropped out of the race in March 2016, accusing Meeks of leaking information to the ''

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'' about a

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probe into Sanders' use of

slush fund A slush fund is a fund or account used for miscellaneous income and expenses, particularly when these are corrupt or illegal. Such funds may be kept hidden and maintained separately from money that is used for legitimate purposes. Slush funds m ...

s and alleged

solicitation Solicitation is the act of offering, or attempting to purchase, goods and/or services. Legal status may be specific to the time or place where it occurs. The crime of "solicitation to commit a crime" occurs when a person encourages, "solicits, r ...

of a $250,000 kickback from a non-profit. Sanders was never charged with any wrongdoing, and he successfully ran for reelection to his Senate seat despite the Queens Democratic Party backing an opponent,

Adrienne Adams Adrienne Adams may refer to: * Adrienne Adams (illustrator) (1906–2002), American illustrator * Adrienne Adams (politician) Adrienne Eadie Adams (born December 9, 1960) is an American politician serving as Speaker of the New York City Coun ...

. When Democrats took control of the state senate in 2019, Sanders was named chairman on the Committee on Banks. In 2019, Sanders introduced a resolution to recognize October 1, the

National Day of the People's Republic of China National Day ( zh, s=国庆节, t=, p=guóqìng jié, l=national celebration day, links=yes), officially the National Day of the People's Republic of China (), is a public holiday in China celebrated annually on 1 October as the national da ...

, as "China Day" in New York State. The resolution in the state senate was attended by China's counsel general for New York State, Huang Ping, who praised it.

Personal life

In 2005, he married his former

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 supportin ...

. He has two children from a previous marriage.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, James Jr. 1957 births Living people African-American state legislators in New York (state) Brooklyn College alumni New York City Council members New York (state) Democrats People from Far Rockaway, Queens United States Marines 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American politicians 21st-century members of the New York State Legislature