Mercedes Narcisse (born April 26, 1965) is a

Haitian American Haitian Americans (; ; ) are a group of Americans of full or partial Haitian origin or descent. The largest population of Haitian citizens in the United States live in Little Haiti to the South Florida area. In addition, they have sizeable popu ...

nurse and Democratic politician from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

currently serving as the New York City Council Member representing Brooklyn's 46th City Council District covering the neighborhoods of Bergen Beach, Canarsie, Flatlands, Georgetown, Gerritsen Beach, Marine Park, Mill Basin, Mill Island, Sheepshead Bay in southeastern

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

Early life

Narcisse was born in

Saint-Marc Saint-Marc (; ) is a List of communes of Haiti, commune in western Haiti in Artibonite (department), Artibonite departement. Its geographic coordinates are . At the 2015 Census the commune had 266,642 inhabitants. It is one of the biggest cities ...

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

, and was raised by her grandmother. When she was 17 years old, Narcisse moved to

to live with her father, and attended

Samuel J. Tilden High School Samuel J. Tilden High School was a List of high schools in New York City, New York City public high school in the East Flatbush, Brooklyn, East Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York City. It was named for Samuel J. Tilden, the former govern ...

despite initially not knowing any English. She then graduated from the

New York City College of Technology The New York City College of Technology (City Tech) is a public college in New York City. Founded in 1946, it is the City University of New York's college of technology. Its main urban campus is located in Downtown Brooklyn. History City Tech ...

to become certified as a registered nurse.

Career

Narcisse has worked as a

registered nurse A registered nurse (RN) is a healthcare professional who has graduated or successfully passed a nursing program from a recognized nursing school and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar government-authorized ...

for over 30 years, and established her own medical practice in 2001.

2009 City Council campaign

In June 2008, with Councilman Lew Fidler prospectively term-limited in 2009, Narcisse announced her campaign for the 46th 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 ...

. The election was expected to be a contest between Narcisse and former Assemblyman

Frank Seddio Frank R. Seddio (born October 14, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who served as a member of the New York State Assembly representing southeastern Brooklyn from 1999 to 2005 before serving as a Kings County Surrogate Court Judge from ...

, who had once been Narcisse's political ally and was the godfather to one of her children. However, in October 2008, Mayor

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman and politician. He is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., and was its CEO from 1981 to 2001 and again from 2014 to 2023. He served as the 108th mayo ...

and the City Council agreed to extend the city's term limits law, allowing Fidler to run for a third term; Seddio and Narcisse both chose to discontinue their campaigns.

2012 and 2013 City Council campaigns

When Fidler ran for the 17th district 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 ...

in a 2012 special election, both Narcisse and Seddio prepared for another run for his City Council seat. Fidler lost the special election by 12 votes, however, and thus remained in the 46th district seat until his final term ended. Narcisse continued running for the soon-to-be open seat, but Seddio halted his campaign, and Narcisse instead faced Assemblyman Alan Maisel, a Seddio ally. Although Maisel was white and the 46th district was plurality-Black, Narcisse could not overcome Maisel's name recognition and connections, and lost 60-40%.

2016 State Senate campaign

Narcisse launched her third campaign for elected office in 2016, this time for the 19th district of the State Senate. The seat was held by Roxanne Persaud, who had won a special election after the previous incumbent, John Sampson, had been convicted on federal felony charges. Narcisse won the backing of Councilwoman Inez Barron, who sought to challenge the Brooklyn machine from the left, but nevertheless lost to Persaud in a 75-25% landslide.

2021 City Council campaign

With her former opponent Alan Maisel term-limited in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, Narcisse announced her latest campaign for the City Council's 46th district. As in her previous runs, Narcisse ran without the support of the Brooklyn Democratic political apparatus, which instead aligned behind community board member Gardy Brazela. Narcisse did earn notable endorsements from several major unions and

Public Advocate An ombudsman ( , also ) is a government employee who investigates and tries to resolve complaints, usually through recommendations (binding or not) or mediation. They are usually appointed by the government or by parliament (often with a sign ...

Jumaane Williams Jumaane D. Williams ( ; born May 11, 1976) is an American activist and politician who has served as the New York City Public Advocate since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party and a self-described democratic ...

, and was seen as one of the race's frontrunners and its most progressive viable candidate. On election night on June 22, Narcisse emerged with a large lead, receiving 36 percent of the vote to her nearest competitor's 16 percent. When absentee ballots and ranked-choice votes were counted two weeks later, Narcisse defeated runner-up Shirley Paul 64-36%; she declared victory on July 3. She won the November general election with over 63% of the vote and took office on January 1, 2022. In 2024, Narcisse said she was against a proposed zoning change that would have eliminated parking mandates for new housing units.

Personal life

Narcisse lives in

Canarsie Canarsie ( ) is a mostly residential neighborhood in the southeastern portion of Brooklyn, New York City. Canarsie is bordered on the east by Fresh Creek Basin, East 108th Street, and Louisiana Avenue; on the north by Linden Boulevard; on th ...

. She has four children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Narcisse, Mercedes 1965 births 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century African-American women politicians 21st-century New York (state) politicians 21st-century American women politicians African-American people in New York (state) politics American politicians of Haitian descent Haitian emigrants to the United States Health professionals from New York City Living people New York (state) Democrats New York City Council members Politicians from Brooklyn Women New York City Council members