For other people named James Sanders, see James Sanders (disambiguation).
James Sanders
State senateNew York State
District10th
Term startJanuary 1, 2013
PredecessorShirley Huntley
Office 2Member of the New York City Council
from the 31st district
Term start 2January 1, 2002
Term end 2January 1, 2013
Predecessor 2Juanita Watkins
Successor 2Donovan Richards
Birth dateAugust 14, 1957 (age 69)
Birth placeFar Rockaway, New York, U.S.
PartyDemocratic
SpouseAndrea Stevenson
EducationBrooklyn College (BA)
WebsiteState Senate website

James Sanders Jr. (born 1957) is a member of the New York State Senate, serving since January 2013. He represents the 10th district, which includes the Queens neighborhoods of Richmond Hill, South Ozone Park, Jamaica, Rochdale Village, Rosedale and parts of Far Rockaway.

Early life and education

Sanders was born at the Hammel Houses in Far Rockaway. He attended public schools throughout the Rockaways then attended Brooklyn College.[citation needed] Sanders served as a Marine.[1] He married Andrea Stevenson.[2]

Career

In 2001, Sanders won election to the 31st district of the New York City Council in an underdog win against powerful candidates James Blake and Charlotte Jefferson. Blake had received the support of incumbent councilwoman Juanita Watkins. On the council, Sanders was the first African-American to sit as Chair of the Economic Development Committee'.[3] In July 2009, Sanders was reported to have shown up for only 61% of City Council meetings for fiscal year 2009, the second-fewest on the list.[4] However, he has attributed this to the near fatal car crash that he had in the fall of 2008 which also injured his staffers, Donovan Richards and Mike Duvall.[4][5]

In 2009, he was challenged for reelection from candidates Michael Duncan, Jacques Leandre, and Frederick Lewis.[6] He was re-elected with 40% of the vote, with his next leading opponent, Jacques Leandre, receiving 19%.[7] He was succeeded in the council seat by his former District Manager Donovan Richards, the Queens Borough President as of 2025.

In early 2007, Sanders endorsed then-Senator Barack Obama for President and traveled to Pennsylvania, Ohio, and South Carolina to campaign for him. He became an Obama delegate and represented his district at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.[3] In 2015, Sanders endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders for President of the United States in the 2016 Democratic primaries and the 2016 general election.[8] He endorsed Bernie Sanders again for the 2020 Primary.[9][10]

New York Senate

In 2012, Sanders, who would have been term-limited in the City Council and unable to run again in 2013, opted to primary Senator Shirley Huntley, who was facing corruption charges.[11] He would go on to win with 56% of the vote,[12] winning the general election unopposed. He has been unopposed in the general election ever since.

In December 2015, Sanders filed papers to challenge Congressman Gregory Meeks in the Democratic primary for New York's 5th congressional district.[13] However, he dropped out of the race in March 2016, accusing Meeks of leaking information to the New York Post about a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into Sanders' use of slush funds and alleged solicitation of a $250,000 kickback from a non-profit.[14][15][16][17] Sanders was never charged with any wrongdoing, and he successfully ran for reelection to his Senate seat despite the Queens Democratic Party backing an opponent, Adrienne Adams.[18]

When Democrats took control of the state senate in 2019,[19] Sanders was named chair of the Committee on Banks.[20]

In 2019, Sanders introduced a resolution to recognize October 1, the National Day of the People's Republic of China, as "China Day" in New York State.[21][22] The resolution in the state senate was attended by China's counsel general for New York State, Huang Ping, who praised it.[23][24][25]

Personal life

In 2005, he married his former chief of staff.[26] He has two children from a previous marriage.[1]

References

  1. ^ Wisloski, Jess (2007-11-13). "10 questions for Queens City Councilman James Sanders Jr.". Daily News. Archived 2010-10-23 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
  2. ^ "Andrea Stevenson-Sanders". Daily News
  3. ^ "James Sanders Jr.". Archived 2009-07-25 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
  4. ^ Goldenberg, Sally (2009-07-20). "AWOL At City Hall: Council Truants Are Rarely There". New York Post. p. 8. Archived 2009-08-22 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
  5. ^ Paybarah, Azi (2008-11-18). "Sanders Released From Intensive Care". PolitickerNY. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-07-30.[dead link]
  6. ^ "City Council District 31". Archived July 8, 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2009-08-15.. boropolitics.com
  7. ^ NY1 Online: 2009 New York City Primary Returns Archived 2009-09-22 at the Wayback Machine . NY1.com. Retrieved on 2012-05-15.
  8. ^ "KING: Senators in Harlem, Queens support Sanders — EXCLUSIVE". New York Daily News. 30 December 2015. Archived 13 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  9. ^ Marans, Daniel (June 13, 2019). ".@berniesanders announces New York endorsements: City Councilman Rafael Espinal; state Sens. Julia Salazar and James Sanders; Assemblymen Ron Kim and Phil Steck.". No. 1139272850584547329. Retrieved June 13, 2019.
  10. ^ "Who are prominent New Yorkers endorsing for president?". CSNY. 2020-03-05. Archived 2020-04-16 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  11. ^ Gormley, Michael & Gingras, Brynn (25 August 2012). "NY Senator Shirley Huntley Arrested". NBC New York. Archived 2019-01-30 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  12. ^ "Our Campaigns - NY State Senate 10 - D Primary Race - Sep 13, 2012". www.ourcampaigns.com. Archived January 30, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  13. ^ Short, Aaron (2015-12-13). "Scandal-plagued politicians will battle for Queens congressional seat". New York Post. Archived 2019-04-02 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  14. ^ Short, Aaron (2016-03-20). "'Bribe' politician drops bid to unseat Gregory Meeks". New York Post. Archived 2019-04-02 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  15. ^ Short, Aaron; Vincent, Isabel; Klein, Melissa (2016-02-07). "We were blacklisted for refusing politician $250K bribe". New York Post. Archived 2020-05-30 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  16. ^ Short, Aaron; Vincent, Isabel; Klein, Melissa (2016-02-14). "Politician used $1M of taxpayers' money to host 'parties'". New York Post. Archived 2019-08-10 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  17. ^ Klein, Melissa (2017-10-21). "Councilman, state senator eyed by feds in criminal probe". New York Post. Archived 2019-08-12 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  18. ^ Coltin, Jeff (2019-04-01). "Meet Gregory Meeks: Queens' new boss". City & State NY. Archived 2019-04-02 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  19. ^ Wang, Vivian (2018-11-07). "Democrats Take Control of New York Senate for First Time in Decade". The New York Times. Retrieved 2025-09-28.
  20. ^ "The New York State Senate". August 2023.
  21. ^ "Sanders' Resolution Recognizing "China Day" Celebrated with Ceremony in Brooklyn". NY State Senate. 2019-07-23. Archived 2020-08-23 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  22. ^ Yan, Flora (December 2, 2021). "'China Day' in New York: A Case Study in United Front Work". The Diplomat. Archived 2024-06-09 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2024-07-29.
  23. ^ "New York state to set up China Day to strengthen friendship". Xinhua News Agency. June 19, 2019. Archived from the original on January 9, 2020. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  24. ^ Wenzheng, Kong (June 20, 2019). "Empire State marks China Day". China Daily. Archived June 5, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  25. ^ "New York State's establishment of China Day celebrated in NYC". Xinhua News Agency. July 21, 2019. Archived from the original on July 21, 2019. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  26. ^ "The New King of Queens?". Queens Tribune. 2014-09-18. Archived from the original on 2017-02-05. Retrieved 2019-01-30.