Jonathan Rinaldi

Based in Forest Hills · Age 47

He has run for City Council twice and for this seat in 2024 and in the 2026 Democratic primary, and was charged in June 2026 with forgery over allegedly AI-generated endorsements and news articles in his 2025 Council campaign.

• Born in New York
• Career experience includes work as a consultant; said in a May 2024 candidate survey that he has a background in architecture
• Before running for office, known as a reality television personality and anti-vaccination activist
• Republican nominee for City Council District 24 in 2023; lost the November 2023 general election to incumbent James Gennaro
• Listed as a withdrawn or disqualified Republican candidate in the 2024 primary for U.S. House in New York's 14th District
• Republican candidate for this seat in 2024; lost the Nov. 5, 2024 general election to Andrew D. Hevesi, 41.1% to 58.6%
• Candidate for City Council District 29 from January 2025; lost the Nov. 4, 2025 general election, running as a Republican, to incumbent Lynn Schulman
• Switched from the Republican to the Democratic Party to challenge Hevesi in 2026; lost the June 23, 2026 Democratic primary with 11.8% of the vote to Hevesi's 87.7%
• On the No Kings Party line in the Nov. 3, 2026 general election
• Arrested on June 24, 2026 and arraigned on a criminal complaint charging three counts of third-degree forgery and 15 counts of third-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument. The Queens District Attorney's office alleges that during his 2025 City Council campaign he used AI to create and post false endorsements and fake news articles
• Posted fabricated headlines claiming endorsements from former Governor Andrew Cuomo, Council Member Bob Holden and Andrew D. Hevesi
• Denied involvement in a change to Hevesi's voter registration that Hevesi alleged in a 2026 complaint to the Queens District Attorney: “I had absolutely no involvement in any change to Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi’s voter registration, and neither did anyone acting on my behalf.”
• Posted campaign videos depicting an AI version of himself ahead of the 2026 race against Hevesi
• Arrested in 2020 for assault in connection with a domestic dispute, in September 2023 on a felony burglary charge, and on Election Day 2024 for creating a disturbance at a polling site. Of the 2023 arrest, he said police arrested him after he, another Council candidate and the food pantry's owner broke into the pantry after the landlord locked them out. The outcomes of these cases were not found as of Sept. 30, 2026