Nydia Velazquez

Nydia Velazquez assumed office in January 1993, representing New York's 12th District in the United States House of Representatives. Velazquez was the first Puerto Rican woman elected to the United States House of Representatives, the first Hispanic woman to serve as a ranking member of a full House committee, and the first Latina to chair a full Congressional committee. After New York's redistricting in 2012, she won re-election in District 7.

Velazquez was born March 28, 1953, in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico. She received her Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras in 1974, and is the first person in her family to graduate from college. In 1976, she completed her Master of Arts from New York University. Following college, Velazquez worked as a faculty member at the University of Puerto Rico in Humacoa, Puerto Rico, from 1976 to 1981. From 1981 to 1983, she worked as an adjunct professor at Hunter College.

Prior to serving in Congress, Velazquez served on the staff for United States New York Representative Edolphus Towns (1983). She also served on the New York City Council (1984) and as the national director, in the migration office, of the Puerto Rico Department of Labor and Human Resources (1986 to 1989). Velazquez then served as the director of the Department of Puerto Rican Community Affairs in the United States for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

For information on Velazquez's policy subject areas, committee appointments and sponsored/co-sponsored legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives, please visit her profile on https://www.congress.gov.