Senator Zellnor Myrie

Senator Zellnor Y. Myrie is a Brooklyn native and affordable housing advocate serving the 20th Senate District.

Since joining the Senate in 2019, Senator Myrie has served in leadership roles and won several major legislative victories, including New York’s strongest affordable housing and tenant protection laws in generations along with sweeping reforms to New York’s criminal legal system.

In 2021, as a rise in gun violence swept through communities of color across the state and the country, Senator Myrie wrote the nation’s first state gun industry liability law, taking aim at irresponsible dealers and manufacturers whose dangerous weapons end up on our streets. For this accomplishment and others, Senator Myrie was given the Founders’ Award from New Yorkers Against Gun Violence and named Gun Sense Lawmaker of the Year by Everytown for Gun Safety. In 2022, he was honored with the “20 Under 40 Leadership Award” by the Council of State Governments.

As Chair of the Elections Committee, Senator Myrie presided over historic election reforms including early voting, closing the LLC loophole, and simplifying the absentee ballot process. In 2021, he held voter-focused hearings across the state on improving election administration and protecting voting rights, and issued a landmark report containing over 50 recommendations to reform New York’s elections. He is the author of the John R. Lewis New York Voting Rights Act, which has been hailed as the strongest voting rights law in any state in the country.

Senator Myrie derives inspiration for his public service from his mother, who moved to Brooklyn 40 years ago from Costa Rica on the promise of a mattress in a friend’s apartment and a job at a factory. Myrie is a graduate of Brooklyn Technical High School and earned his B.A. in Communications and M.A. in Urban Studies from Fordham University. He later earned his J.D. from Cornell Law School.