| Diana Richardson | |
| Office: | Deputy Borough President of Brooklyn |
| Leader: | Antonio Reynoso |
| Term Start: | January 1, 2022 |
| Predecessor: | Ingrid Lewis-Martin |
| Successor: | Kim Council |
| State Assembly1: | New York |
| District1: | 43rd |
| Term Start1: | May 6, 2015 |
| Term End1: | March 30, 2022 |
| Predecessor1: | Karim Camara |
| Successor1: | Brian A. Cunningham |
| Birth Date: | 16 January 1983 |
| Birth Place: | Brooklyn, New York |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Otherparty: | Working Families |
| Children: | 1 |
| Residence: | Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Education: | Medgar Evers College (BA) Baruch College (MPA) |
| Termend: | October 17, 2022 |
Diana Richardson (born January 16, 1983) is an American politician who served as a member of the New York Assembly. She was elected on the Working Families Party line in a 2015 special election to replace Karim Camara in the 43rd district, which comprises the Crown Heights and Prospect Lefferts Gardens neighborhoods of Brooklyn.[1]
Richardson was born in Brooklyn, to Caribbean immigrant parents from Aruba,[2] [3] and raised in Crown Heights.[3]
Richardson has an undergraduate degree in public administration from Medgar Evers College, and a Master of Public Administration from Baruch College, both campuses of the City University of New York.[2] [3]
Richardson was a Brooklyn Community Board 9 member when the Crown Heights Tenant Union, an advocacy organization for tenants that organizes, educations, and helps residents in housing court cases,[4] [5] convinced her to run for an open New York Assembly seat on an anti-gentrification platform.[6]
She won the May 2015 special election,[7] on the Working Families Party (WFP) ballot line, the first to do so in the state legislature.[7] She also won the general election the following November, on both the Democratic Party line as well as the WFP.[3]
In 2016, Richardson was arrested for hitting her 12-year-old son with a broomstick and was charged with assault, endangering the welfare of a child, criminal possession of a weapon and menacing.[8] [9] The felony charge was dropped in April 2017, though she still faced six misdemeanor charges.[10]
In 2020, Richardson was pepper-sprayed by the New York City Police Department while marching at a demonstration over the murder of George Floyd.[11]
Richardson faced a primary challenge in the 2020 elections from Jesse Hamilton.[12] She defeated Hamilton in a landslide.[13]
In January 2022, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso selected Richardson to be the deputy borough president.[14]
On October 17, 2022, Richardson was fired for hosting a toxic work environment following a string of staff and constituent complaints about her behavior while working at Borough Hall.[15] [16]