Shekar Krishnan (born June 5, 1985) is an American attorney and politician who is a 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 ...

for the 25th district, which covers the northwestern

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

Jackson Heights Jackson Heights is a neighborhood in the northwestern part of the borough of Queens in New York City. Jackson Heights is neighbored by North Corona to the east, Elmhurst to the south, Woodside to the west, and today northern Astoria ( Ditm ...

, Elmhurst, parts of

East Elmhurst East Elmhurst is a residential neighborhood in the northwest section of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded to the south by Jackson Heights and Corona, to the north and east by Bowery Bay, and to the west by Woodside and Ditmar ...

, and a small piece of Woodside.

Early life

Krishnan was born to immigrant parents from

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. He received a

Bachelor of Sciences A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in engineering from

The Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly known as Cooper Union, is a private college on Cooper Square in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-s ...

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 ...

from the

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (branded as Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Comparati ...

Career

Krishnan worked as an associate for law firms

Weil, Gotshal & Manges Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP ( ) is an American law firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1931, it employs approximately 1,100 attorneys and reported annual revenues of over $1.8 billion, ranking it within''The American Lawyer'' AmLaw 10 ...

and

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, founded in 1919, is a law firm headquartered in New York City. Notable alumni *Former attorney general of the United States and federal judge Michael B. Mukasey was a partner at the firm before his accession ...

. He was also an attorney at Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A, directing the organization’s

fair housing A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Fairs showcase a wide range of go ...

and tenant advocacy divisions. He is the co-founder of Communities Resist, a legal services organization that represents tenants and neighborhood coalitions in fair housing litigation and anti-displacement advocacy in

gentrified Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has been us ...

neighborhoods.

2021 City Council campaign

Krishnan announced his candidacy in the

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 ...

Democratic primary for the 25th District of the

on November 17, 2020. Incumbent Councilmember

Daniel Dromm Daniel Dromm (born November 27, 1955) is an American politician who served on the New York City Council from the 25th district from 2010 to 2021. He is a Democrat. The district includes East Elmhurst, Elmhurst and Jackson Heights in Queens. L ...

was

term-limited A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potential for monopoly, whe ...

and could not run for reelection. He was endorsed by Dromm,

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

Nydia Velazquez, and State Senators

Julia Salazar Julia Salazar (born December 30, 1990) is an American politician and activist. She is the New York State Senator for the 18th district, which covers much of northern Brooklyn, centered on Bushwick. She won the seat as a first-time candidate af ...

and

John Liu John Chun Yah Liu (traditional Chinese: 劉醇逸; born January 8, 1967) is an American politician in New York City. A member of the Democratic Party, he is a member of the New York State Senate for the 16th district in northeast Queens. He pr ...

. He centered his campaign on immigrant rights, the

taxi medallion A taxi medallion, also known as a CPNC (Certificate of Public Necessity and Convenience), is a transferable permit allowing a taxicab to operate, particularly in the United States. Several major cities in the US use these in their taxi licensing ...

crisis,

affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median, as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on ...

, and

climate justice Climate justice is a type of environmental justice that focuses on the unequal impacts of climate change on marginalized or otherwise vulnerable populations. Climate justice seeks to achieve an equitable distribution of both the burdens of clima ...

. Krishnan won the ranked-choice primary with 53.4% of all votes cast. He won the general election with 60% of the vote. Along with

Shahana Hanif Shahana K. Hanif (born February 5, 1991) is an American politician, activist, and community organizer. Since 2022, she has represented the New York City Council's 39th district which includes the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Park Slope, Windsor ...

, Krishnan is one of the first

South Asians Ethnic groups in South Asia are ethnolinguistic groupings within the diverse populations of South Asia, including the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan is variously considered to be a p ...

to serve in the

. Days after being elected, Krishnan was arrested along with Hanif and Assemblymember

Zohran Mamdani Zohran Kwame Mamdani (born October 18, 1991) is an American politician in the state of New York. A member of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America, he has represented New York's 36th State Assembly district in Queens s ...

for protesting alongside

taxi drivers A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krishnan, Shekar 1985 births 21st-century New York (state) politicians American politicians of Indian descent Asian-American New York City Council members Asian-American people in New York (state) politics Cooper Union alumni Living people New York (state) Democrats Politicians from Queens, New York University of Michigan Law School alumni

Early life

Career

2021 City Council campaign

Electoral history

See also

References