Queens get the power: Officials from the World’s Borough rise into positions of power in city and beyond

Queens elected officials including Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris, City Council Majority Whip Selvena Brooks-Powers, President Donald Trump, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, City Council Minority Leader Joann Ariola and Mayor Eric Adams are among the many from the borough in positions of power. Photos by Ryan Schwach, John McCarten/City Council Media Unit, AP Photo/Hans Pennink, Alex Brandon/Associated Press, Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.

By Ryan Schwach

For about two hours over the weekend Southeast Queens was the center of the city’s political galaxy –– a place Queens as a whole has been increasingly finding itself in.

At the Rochdale Village Shopping Center, locals, elected leaders and political movers huddled into a plaza smashed between Jamaican food stalls and department stores to watch City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams launch her campaign to become the next mayor of New York City.

In announcing her long-rumored run, Speaker Adams becomes the fifth 2025 Democratic mayoral candidate to claim Queens as their home.

“Everyone has a part of the city they call home, and Southeast Queens is my home,” said the speaker, telling reporters after her speech that Queens would be at the center of her campaign.

Speaker Adams’ announcement once again put Queens smack in the middle of New York City’s political world – it’s not an uncommon position for the borough to be in these days.

At all levels of government, officials born in Queens, raised in Queens or representing Queens have moved into a number of positions of power. From the White House to the City Council, the World’s Borough is represented. And with several Queens candidates vying for higher office, there’s a chance more locals end up in positions of power in the coming year.

Political observers and officials say that Queens' diverse population and active voter base has contributed to the borough’s presence in the annals of power.

At the city level, Queens electeds hold two-thirds of the City Council leadership.

Speaker Adams, who represents parts of Jamaica and its surrounding communities is joined by her fellow Southeast Queens representative and Majority Whip Selvena Brooks-Powers, who represents the Rockaways, Rosedale and other nearby neighborhoods in the majority party.

There’s also the minority party, which is now led by Queens Republicans Joann Ariola, who represents the Rockaways and Central Queens. Ariola tapped City Councilmember Vickie Paladino, who represents Queens’ Northeast corner, to serve as the minority whip. The leadership change was a major transfer of power, stripping the caucus away from Staten Island, whose officials have led the minority party in the Council for years.

Queens also leads City Hall. Mayor Eric Adams routinely cites the period of his childhood spent in Jamaica, and his time at Bayside High School, which the speaker also attended.

Queens officials are also finding positions of power up the Hudson as well.

In Albany, Queens officials hold about 20 percent of committee chairships, despite only making up 12 percent of the state legislature.

Those state lawmakers from Queens also hold a number of leadership positions within the majority party.

Western Queens Senator Michael Gianaris holds the role of deputy majority leader, Senator Toby Ann Stavisky is the president pro tempore of the Senate and Senators Leroy Comrie and Joseph Addabbo serve as majority whip and deputy whip respectively.

Queens’ federal representatives also hold a stake nationwide.

Local Democratic Party boss Gregory Meeks is one of the more tenured members of the Congress. Also, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez remains one of the more influential officials nationwide, and is the poster child for the national progressive movement.

While Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is a product of Brooklyn, his old congressional district included parts of Queens in the 1990s.

Queens is also in the White House. While President Donald Trump made a career in real estate in Manhattan and has lived in Florida for many years, he’s still just a boy from Jamaica Estates.

Why Queens?

While Queens benefits from its large population, there are other factors that put Queens in its current state of power and relevance.

With 2.3 million people, Queens is the second most populous borough with the second largest number of active voters – both second to Brooklyn.

In recent years, those numbers have been on the rise in Queens. There were about 43,000 new active voters in the borough in the last two years, according to city voter data.

But there’s more to Queens’ growing political influence, political observers say.

“Oftentimes, it's been said that Queens get the money, right now, Queens gets the money and all the attention,” said Trip Yang, a Democratic strategist. “Queens is one of the centers of the political universe right now.”

Yang, whose professional portfolio includes a host of Queens candidates, said it's Queens’ most notable characteristic that makes it so relevant – its diversity.

Calling Queens “ground zero” for emerging foreign-born communities, Yang said that as new ethnic groups grow and prosper in Queens, they turn into important voting blocs or candidate pools.

“I think diversity makes us stronger,” Yang said. “These communities will have more and more members registered to vote…and actually participate in local elections.”

Queens’ demographics have also shifted wildly, with a sharp increase in the borough’s Asian American population, but decrease in its Black and white populations.

New York City Council Speaker and Queens representative Adrienne Adams launched her campaign for mayor over the weekend. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach

Asian Americans went from a population around 580,000 in Queens in 2018, to about 607,000 in 2023, about 26 percent of the borough.

“Queens is beginning to have an outsized concentration of power because its demographic is shifting,” said political strategist Hank Sheinkopf.

Some of the emerging populations, including Queens’ Asian American community and, to some extent, Hispanic voters in Western Queens, have been behind the borough’s slow drift toward the right.

The rightward shift was most obviously seen in November when Trump performed about 10 percentage points higher than he did in 2020 – Queens, where Democrats outnumber Republicans seven to one, still overwhelmingly voted for then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

While Queens has a small number of Republicans in power, the shifting influence is still being felt in local leadership.

The newest Queens officials to gain leadership roles are also the borough’s only two elected Republicans – Ariola and Paladino.

Following a tense vote to replace now-former Councilmember Joe Borelli as minority leader, Ariola was elected by the Council’s GOP to lead their party. The South Queens lawmaker promptly appointed the often controversial Paladino as minority whip.

“It really does give me a seat at the table,” she told the Eagle after she became minority leader. “At finance, at the budget negotiation table and zoning…it does give me a voice, a voice for my own district, my own borough, but especially the boroughs of the other members of this caucus.”

Ariola also said that Queens officials have the qualifications to fight for the borough at various levels of government.

“Queens is a diverse borough filled with qualified people who mature into leadership positions and that is evident from the federal government to the City Council level of government,” she said. “Queens is the largest borough and has oftentimes been the forgotten borough and it’s about time that we lead the way for this city.”

Queens get the money, too

Listen to Queens Borough President Donovan Richards speak at any given event and one will likely hear him proudly proclaim his favorite phrase – “Queens get the money.”

The motto comes from a Nas lyric – the musician famously grew up in the Queensbridge Houses. And with Queens officials in the higher echelons of politics and influence, the lyric is now more true than ever.

Queens neighborhoods like Long Island City, Flushing and Jamaica are among the fastest growing communities in the city, both taking in more people and more money – both Jamaica and Long Island City are also undergoing major rezoning projects meant to grow them further.

Queens is also home to some of the city’s most ambitious plans for development over the next decade.

The borough will soon house the largest affordable housing development built in the city in the past 50 years at Willets Point, which will also house the city’s only soccer stadium. There’s also Innovation Queens, which stands to create a new neighborhood in between Astoria and Sunnyside.

“[Queens officials in power] have real power to do everything they can to protect the constituencies,” said Sheinkopf. “How do you do that? You bring home the bacon.”

Richards said that it isn’t just nice to have Queens representatives in powerful positions – it’s a necessity.

"Queens has been leading our city in so many respects over the last few years, but the needs of our families are still vast and pressing,” he said. “That's why it's never been more important to have officials from our borough in positions of power across city government, and leading this borough at this time in history is an honor and responsibility that I do not take lightly.”

“We're a borough of go-getters, at the end of the day,” he added. “I'm always proud to work with all my colleagues in leadership to ensure that we're adequately investing in our families and that Queens continues to get the money, both today and in the future."

More to come from Queens?

Queens’ hold on positions of power in government may not come to an end any time soon. In fact, it may only expand.

There are currently five mayoral candidates who claim Queens as their home borough, most notably former Governor Andrew Cuomo who has consistently led mayoral polls and appears to have emerged as the race’s front runner.

Joining him are both Adrienne and Eric Adams, who are not related, as well as Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani and Senator Jessica Ramos.

Former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was born and raised in Queens, is currently leading the pack to be the next mayor. AP file photo by Julia Demaree Nikhinson

But even if Cuomo’s support falters, recent polls show the Democratic Socialists of America-backed Mamdani and Mayor Adams still in solid positions – with the other Adams’ place in the race still unclear.

It is likely that for all the mayoral candidates, and especially the ones from Queens – the road to City Hall must go through the crowded streets of the World’s Borough.

With its large population and equally proportional voter base – a base now split among its five partially home grown products – Queens is likely to have an outspoken role in electing the next mayor.

While giving remarks at Speaker Adams’ campaign launch in Rochdale over the weekend, veteran State Senator James Sanders specifically put the power in the hands of Southeast Queens, one of the city’s largest and most active voting blocs. The area was also one time home to three of the race's candidates.

“Southeast Queens can decide who sits in Gracie Mansion,” he said. “Southeast Queens can make that decision, but they can't make it alone.”