James Sanders Jr.

James Sanders Jr. (born 1957) is a member of the New York State Senate, serving since January 2013. He represents the 10th Senatorial District, which includes the Queens neighborhoods of Richmond Hill, South Ozone Park, Jamaica, Rochdale Village, Rosedale and parts of Far Rockaway.

James Sanders Jr.
Member of the New York State Senate
from the 10th district
Assumed office
January 1, 2013
Preceded byShirley Huntley
Member of the New York City Council from the 31st district
In office
January 1, 2002 – January 1, 2013
Preceded byJuanita Watkins
Succeeded byDonovan Richards
Personal details
Born
James Sanders Jr.

1957 (age 62–63)
Far Rockaway, New York
NationalityAmerican
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)Andrea Stevenson-Sanders[1]
ResidenceNew York City
Alma materBrooklyn College

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. Sanders served as a Marine.[2]

Career

In 2002, Sanders won his seat in an underdog win against powerful candidates James Blake and Charlotte Jefferson. Blake had received the support of incumbent councilwoman Juanita Watkins. On the council, Sanders was the first African-American to sit as Chair of the Economic Development Committee'.[3] 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.[4] 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 and Mike Duvall.[4][5]

In 2009, he was challenged for reelection from candidates Michael Duncan, Jacques Leandre, and Frederick Lewis.[6] He was re-elected with 40% of the vote, with his next leading opponent, Jacques Leandre, receiving 19%.[7] His council seat is now held by his former District Manager Donovan Richards.

In early 2007, Sanders endorsed then-Senator Barack Obama for President and traveled to Pennsylvania, Ohio, and South Carolina to campaign for him. He became an Obama delegate and represented his district at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.[3] In 2015, Sanders endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders for President of the United States in the 2016 Democratic primaries and the 2016 general election.[8] He endorsed Bernie Sanders again for the 2020 Primary.[9][10]

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, who was facing corruption charges.[11] He would go on to win with 56% of the vote,[12] 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 in the Democratic primary for New York's 5th congressional district.[13] However, he dropped out of the race in March 2016, accusing Meeks of leaking information to the New York Post about a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into Sanders' use of slush funds and alleged solicitation of a $250,000 kickback from a non-profit.[14][15][16][17] 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.[18]

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, as "China Day" in New York State.[19] The resolution in the state senate was attended by China's counsel general for New York State, Huang Ping, who praised it.[20][21][22]

Personal life

In 2005, he married his former chief of staff.[23] He has two children from a previous marriage.[2]

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References
  1. "Andrea Stevenson-Sanders". Daily News. New York.
  2. Wisloski, Jess (2007-11-13). "10 questions for Queens City Councilman James Sanders Jr". Daily News. Archived from the original on 2010-10-23. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
  3. "James Sanders Jr". Archived from the original on 2009-07-25. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
  4. Goldenberg, Sally (2009-07-20). "AWOL At City Hall: Council Truants Are Rarely There". New York Post. p. 8. Archived from the original on 2009-08-22. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
  5. Paybarah, Azi (2008-11-18). "Sanders Released From Intensive Care". PolitickerNY. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-07-30.
  6. "City Council District 31". Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. Retrieved 2009-08-15.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link). boropolitics.com
  7. NY1 Online: 2009 New York City Primary Returns Archived 2009-09-22 at the Wayback Machine. NY1.com. Retrieved on 2012-05-15.
  8. "KING: Senators in Harlem, Queens support Sanders — EXCLUSIVE". Archived from the original on 13 March 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  9. Marans, Daniel [@danielmarans] (June 13, 2019). ".@berniesanders announces New York endorsements: City Councilman Rafael Espinal; state Sens. Julia Salazar and James Sanders; Assemblymen Ron Kim and Phil Steck" (Tweet). Retrieved June 13, 2019 – via Twitter.
  10. "Who are prominent New Yorkers endorsing for president?". CSNY. 2020-03-05. Archived from the original on 2020-04-16. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  11. Gormley, Michael; Gingras, Brynn. "NY Senator Shirley Huntley Arrested". NBC New York. Archived from the original on 2019-01-30. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  12. "Our Campaigns - NY State Senate 10 - D Primary Race - Sep 13, 2012". www.ourcampaigns.com. Archived from the original on January 30, 2019. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  13. Short, Aaron (2015-12-13). "Scandal-plagued politicians will battle for Queens congressional seat". New York Post. Archived from the original on 2019-04-02. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  14. Short, Aaron (2016-03-20). "'Bribe' politician drops bid to unseat Gregory Meeks". New York Post. Archived from the original on 2019-04-02. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  15. Short, Aaron; Vincent, Isabel; Klein, Melissa (2016-02-07). "We were blacklisted for refusing politician $250K bribe". New York Post. Archived from the original on 2020-05-30. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  16. Short, Aaron; Vincent, Isabel; Klein, Melissa (2016-02-14). "Politician used $1M of taxpayers' money to host 'parties'". New York Post. Archived from the original on 2019-08-10. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  17. Klein, Melissa (2017-10-21). "Councilman, state senator eyed by feds in criminal probe". New York Post. Archived from the original on 2019-08-12. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  18. Coltin, Jeff (2019-04-01). "Meet Gregory Meeks: Queens' new boss". City & State NY. Archived from the original on 2019-04-02. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  19. "Sanders' Resolution Recognizing "China Day" Celebrated with Ceremony in Brooklyn". NY State Senate. 2019-07-23. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  20. "New York state to set up China Day to strengthen friendship". Xinhua News Agency. June 19, 2019. Archived from the original on January 9, 2020. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  21. Wenzheng, Kong (June 20, 2019). "Empire State marks China Day". China Daily. Archived from the original on June 5, 2020. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  22. "New York State's establishment of China Day celebrated in NYC". Xinhua News Agency. July 21, 2019. Archived from the original on July 21, 2019. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  23. "The New King of Queens?". Queens Tribune. 2014-09-18. Archived from the original on 2017-02-05. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
Political offices
Preceded by
Juanita Watkins		 New York City Council, 31st District
2001–2012		 Succeeded by
Donovan Richards
New York State Senate
Preceded by
Shirley Huntley		 New York State Senate, 10th District
2013–present		 Incumbent
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