Rafael Espinal calls exit from City Council ‘bittersweet’
“It’s the work that really attracted me to politics, not the politics within the politics.”
Rafael Espinal, the staunch progressive who has represented parts of Bushwick, Brownsville, Cypress Hills and East New York in the City Council since 2014, has resigned. Espinal announced he’ll be taking over as executive director of the Freelancers Union, a national organization of independent workers with half a million members.
The move comes shortly after Espinal ended a brief campaign for Brooklyn Borough President and with nearly two years left in his second and final term as the City Councilmember for the 37th District, where the 35-year-old Dominican-American was raised. Espinal also finished seventh in the race for Public Advocate, which was won by fellow City Councilmember Jumaane Williams, in 2019.
Though he enjoyed his time in the City Council, and described his exit from the body as “bittersweet,” Espinal told the Brooklyn Eagle that he was “never really interested in the politics behind it all.”