State Assembly Member - District 85
Emerita Torres
Assembly member for District 85 since January 2025, after winning the November 2024 general election with 78.9% of the vote.
Issues Emerita is raising
Consumer prices and cost of living
Sponsored a ban on surveillance pricing that both houses passed in June 2026, and bills requiring disclosure of algorithmically set prices and notice to consumers of their right to freeze their credit. Her campaign says she passed a first-in-the-nation law requiring companies to disclose when personal data sets prices, and led the fight for universal childcare in the Legislature.
Housing costs
Names the affordable housing crisis among her top three priorities and wants to expand the Housing Access Voucher Program. Sponsored a bill barring certain financial institutions from charging fees based on how often homeowners make mortgage payments, or for changing that frequency; both houses passed it in May 2026.
Health care
Co-sponsored and voted for the Medical Aid in Dying Act, law since February 2026, and voted for its follow-up on requirements for providers. Sponsored a 2025 law on breast cancer screening for incarcerated people and a bill requiring baby food and infant formula to be tested for toxic heavy metals, which both houses passed in June 2026.
Highways, pollution and climate
Says she helped stop the vehicular expansion of the Cross Bronx Expressway, and opposed rollbacks of the state's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act in the state budget. Sponsors a bill barring added lane capacity on highways within 200 feet of certain public housing, in areas with high asthma rates and in environmental justice communities.
State budget and public safety
Voted for the 2026-27 public protection and general government budget and the bill carrying out the state fiscal plan, both signed in May 2026. Voted for a bill keeping police radio communications, except sensitive information, accessible to emergency services organizations and professional journalists, which the governor vetoed, and for a 2026 law amending limits on how close cannabis dispensaries may be to schools and houses of worship.
Background
Based in Soundview, Bronx
Before her election she was vice president of policy, research and advocacy at the Community Service Society of New York, and she spent a decade as a U.S. State Department diplomat. A lifelong Bronx resident, she lives in Soundview.
- Member of the New York State Assembly for District 85 since January 2025; won the Nov. 5, 2024 general election with 78.9% of the vote
- Advanced to the 2026 general election on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines without appearing on a primary ballot after both parties' June 23, 2026 primaries for the seat were canceled
- Member of the Assembly committees on Aging; Banks; Consumer Affairs and Protection; Economic Development, Job Creation, Commerce and Industry; Education; and Housing
- Member of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Legislative Caucus, the Legislative Women's Caucus, the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force and the Task Force on Food, Farm & Nutrition Policy
- Vice President of Policy, Research and Advocacy at the Community Service Society of New York, an anti-poverty nonprofit, before her election to the Assembly
- Co-led efforts to address the cost-of-living crisis through the National True Cost of Living Coalition
- A decade as a U.S. diplomat with the State Department, with tours in Brazil, Pakistan, Colombia, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations; her campaign says she received three Meritorious Honor Awards and a Superior Honor Award
- Director of Policy Research and Programs at The Soufan Center
- Two-term Democratic State Committee member for the 85th Assembly District; her campaign website lists her as State Committeewoman
- Board member of the Bronx River Arts Center and the Women's Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDco)
- Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations
- Organized and delivered PPE and food to Bronx families during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Her campaign says she secured over $8 million in new investments for the district, directed $7 million toward keeping housing affordable and allocated $1 million in discretionary funding to community programs
- B.A. in history from New York University; Master's in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government
- Of Puerto Rican heritage; lives in Soundview with her partner and two children
Support
Carl Heastie
Speaker of the New York State Assembly
Jose Serrano
New York State Senator
Luis Sepúlveda
New York State Senator
Nathalia Fernandez
New York State Senator
- AF
Amanda Farías
New York City Council Member
Money
$84K
raised
Top donors: New York Apartment Association PAC, 1199 SEIU, Thomas Secunda