Rory Lancman (born March 1, 1969) is an American politician and former member 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 ...

, representing the 24th district from 2014 until 2020. He is a Democrat. The district includes Briarwood,

Cunningham Park Cunningham Park is a park in the New York City borough of Queens. The park lies between the Grand Central Parkway to the south and the Long Island Expressway, and is bifurcated by the Clearview Expressway. The park is operated by the New York Cit ...

, Flushing, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Fresh Meadows, Hollis, Holliswood,

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 ...

, Jamaica Estates, Jamaica Hills,

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1759, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

Kew Gardens Hills Kew Gardens Hills is a neighborhood in the middle of the New York City borough of Queens. The borders are Flushing Meadows–Corona Park to the west, the Long Island Expressway to the north, Interstate 495 (New York), Union Turnpike to the south ...

and Richmond Hill in

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 ...

. Formerly, Lancman served as a

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 Ass ...

member, representing the 25th Assembly District in

from 2007 to 2013.

Early life and education

Lancman was born and raised in Queens and is a graduate of New York City Public School 164, Parsons Junior High School, and Hillcrest High School. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the New York City borough of Queens. Part of the City University of New York system, Queens College occupies an campus primarily located in Flushing. Queens College was established in 1937 and offe ...

(

City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...

) in 1991 and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

degree from

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (CLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League university in New York City. The school was founded in 1858 as the Columbia College Law School. The un ...

in 1995, to which he had transferred after a year at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Earlier career

Lancman served in the New York's 42nd Infantry Division as a lieutenant of Infantry from 1988 to 1992. Lancman served on Community Board 8 for over sixteen years, chairing first the Aging Committee and then the Youth & Education Committee. He ran unsuccessfully for the

New York 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 ...

in 2000, losing to

Frank Padavan Frank Padavan (October 31, 1934 – October 8, 2018) was an American engineer and politician. He served as a New York state senator representing District 11, located in Queens County. His district included the communities of Queens Village, ...

. In September 2007, he was named one of ''

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

s "40 under 40" for being a young influential member of New York City politics. He was first elected to the State Assembly in 2006, and ran uncontested in the 2008 and 2010 general elections. In 2012, Lancman sought the Democratic nomination for

New York's 6th congressional district New York's 6th congressional district is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives in New York City, located entirely within Queens. It is represented by Democrat Grace Meng. A plurality of the district's popul ...

. He faced

member Elizabeth Crowley and fellow Assembly member

Grace Meng Grace Meng (Chinese: 孟昭文; born October 1, 1975) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for New York's 6th congressional district since 2013. Her district is situated within the New York City borough of Q ...

, and eventually lost to Meng. A large campaign war chest gave Lancman's campaign cause to believe they would emerge the victor, but Meng went on to take it with over 50% of the vote.

New York City Council

On November 19, 2012, Lancman declared his run for the 24th district of the

district, seeking to succeed James F. Gennaro in the 2013 election. Lancman won a score of endorsements, including the Queens County Democratic Party, the

Working Families Party The Working Families Party (WFP) is a progressive minor political party in the United States, founded in New York in 1998. There are active chapters in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois ...

, the

United Federation of Teachers The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) is the labor union that represents most teachers in New York City public schools. , there were about 118,000 in-service teachers and nearly 30,000 paraprofessional educators in the union, as well as about ...

AFL-CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a national trade union center that is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 61 national and international unions, together r ...

, the

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is a trade union, labor union that represents approximately 820,000 workers and retirees in the electricity, electrical industry in the United States, Canada, Guam, Panama, Puerto Rico, an ...

, SEIU 32BJ, and 1199 SEIU. Lancman defeated two other candidates in the primary and went on to win the general election in November 2013. Council Member Lancman became the chair of a newly created committee on the New York City Council called the Committee on Courts and Legal Services. Although both are liberal, Lancman has been critical of Mayor

Bill de Blasio Bill de Blasio (; born Warren Wilhelm Jr., May 8, 1961; later Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm) is an American politician who was the List of mayors of New York City, 109th mayor of New York City, mayor of New York City from 2014 to 2021. A member of t ...

at times. He resigned from the City Council on November 4, 2020 for a position under Governor Andrew Cuomo as his Special Counsel for Ratepayer Protection. In 2019, Lancman was a candidate in the Democratic primary for

Queens County District Attorney The District Attorney of Queens County is the elected district attorney for Queens County in New York State, coterminous with the New York City borough of Queens. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state laws. ...

in the

State of New York New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

. Nily Rozic is the Democratic incumbent who succeeded Lancman as the Assemblymember for the 25th District.

Early life and education

Earlier career

New York City Council

References

Further reading