Rory Lancman (born March 4, 1969) is an American politician and former member of the New York City Council, 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 Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushin ...

Fresh Meadows Fresh Meadows is a neighborhood in the northeastern section of the New York City borough of Queens. Fresh Meadows used to be part of the broader town of Flushing and is bordered to the north by the Horace Harding Expressway; to the west by Pom ...

Hollis Hollis may refer to: *Hollis (singer) *Hollis (name) Places * Hollis, Alaska * Hollis, Kansas * Hollis, Maine * Hollis, Missouri * Hollis, New Hampshire * Hollis, Oklahoma * Hollis, Queens, neighborhood in New York **Hollis (LIRR station), its L ...

Holliswood Holliswood (formerly known as Terrace Heights) is an affluent residential neighborhood located on the Harbor Hill Moraine in the east-central portion of the borough of Queens, New York City. Bounded to the north by the Grand Central Parkway, to ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

Jamaica Estates Jamaica Estates is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. Jamaica Estates is part of Queens Community District 8 and located in the northern portion of Jamaica. It is bounded by Union Turnpike to the north, Hillside Avenue to t ...

Jamaica Hills Jamaica Hills is a small middle class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is surrounded by Hillcrest (at the Grand Central Parkway to the north), Jamaica Estates (at Homelawn Street, a continuation of Utopia Pa ...

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 1840, 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, Union Turnpike to the south, and Parsons Boulevard to t ...

and Richmond Hill in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

. 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 Assem ...

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 Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...

(

City University of New York The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the public university system of New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven senior colleges, seven community colleges and seven pr ...

) in 1991 and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

degree from

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked ...

in 1995, to which he had transferred after a year at the

Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law is the Law school in the United States, law school of Yeshiva University. Located in New York City and founded in 1976, the school is named for Supreme Court of the United States, Supreme Court Associate Just ...

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; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan compo ...

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 a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

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 popula ...

. He faced New York City Council member Elizabeth Crowley and fellow Assembly member

Grace Meng Grace Meng (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. A member of the Democratic Party, her district is in the New York City borough of ...

, 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 New York City Council district, seeking to succeed

James F. Gennaro James Gennaro (born May 3, 1957) is an American politician serving as a Democratic member of the New York City Council, representing the 24th district since 2021. He previously represented the same seat from 2002 until 2013, and was the chair o ...

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 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, Maryland, Ne ...

, 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 17,000 paraprofessional educators in the union, as well as about 54,000 ...

, AFL-CIO, the

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is a labor union that represents approximately 775,000 workers and retirees in the electrical industry in the United States, Canada, Guam, Panama, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Island ...

SEIU Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing almost 1.9 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States and Canada. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare (over half of members ...

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 served as the 109th mayor of New York City from 2014 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he held the office of New Yor ...

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, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

Nily Rozic Nily Rozic is a legislator from Queens, New York and a member of the New York State Assembly. Rozic represents New York's 25th District, which spans the northeast portions of Queens, including the communities of Flushing, Queensboro Hill, Hillcr ...

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