| New York City's 37th City Council district | |
| Leader Title: | Councilmember |
| Leader Name: | Sandy Nurse D–Cypress Hills |
| Population As Of: | 2010 |
| Population Total: | 158438 |
| Population Footnotes: | [1] |
| Footnotes: | Registered voters (2021) 96,282[2] |
| Demographics Type1: | Demographics |
| Demographics1 Info1: | 56% |
| Demographics1 Title1: | Hispanic |
| Demographics1 Info2: | 30% |
| Demographics1 Title2: | Black |
| Demographics1 Info3: | 6% |
| Demographics1 Title3: | Asian |
| Demographics1 Info4: | 4% |
| Demographics1 Title4: | White |
| Demographics1 Info5: | 4% |
| Demographics1 Title5: | Other |
| Demographics Type2: | Registration |
| Demographics2 Info1: | 75.0% |
| Demographics2 Title1: | Democratic |
| Demographics2 Info2: | 4.7% |
| Demographics2 Title2: | Republican |
| Demographics2 Info3: | 17.7% |
| Demographics2 Title3: | No party preference |
New York City's 37th City Council district is one of 51 districts in the New York City Council. It is currently represented by Democrat Sandy Nurse, who took office in 2022.[3]
District 37 covers a series of majority-Hispanic neighborhoods along Brooklyn's northern border, including a large swath of Bushwick as well as Ocean Hill, Cypress Hills, City Line, and small parts of East New York and Brownsville.[4]
The district overlaps with Brooklyn Community Boards 4, 5, and 16, and with New York's 7th and 8th congressional districts. It also overlaps with the 18th, 19th, and 25th districts of the New York State Senate, and with the 53rd, 54th, 55th, and 60th districts of the New York State Assembly.[5]
| Members | Party | Years served | Electoral history | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| District established January 1, 1992 | |||||
Martin M. Dilan | Democratic | January 1, 1992 – December 31, 2001 | Elected in 1991. Re-elected in 1993. Re-elected in 1997. Termed out and ran New York State Senate. | ||
Erik M. Dilan | Democratic | January 1, 2002 – December 31, 2013 | Elected in 2001. Re-elected in 2003. Re-elected in 2005. Re-elected in 2009. Termed out and ran for U.S. House of Representatives. | ||
Rafael Espinal | Democratic | January 1, 2014 – January 26, 2020 | Elected in 2013. Re-elected in 2017. Resigned. | ||
| Vacant | January 26, 2020 – November 4, 2020 | ||||
Darma Diaz | Democratic | November 4, 2020 – December 31, 2021 | Elected to finish Espinal's term. Lost renomination. | ||
Sandy Nurse | Democratic | January 1, 2022 – current | Elected in 2021. Re-elected in 2023. | ||
Due to redistricting and the 2020 changes to the New York City Charter, councilmembers elected during the 2021 and 2023 City Council elections will serve two-year terms, with full four-year terms resuming after the 2025 New York City Council elections.[6]
In 2019, voters in New York City approved Ballot Question 1, which implemented ranked-choice voting in all local elections. Under the new system, voters have the option to rank up to five candidates for every local office. Voters whose first-choice candidates fare poorly will have their votes redistributed to other candidates in their ranking until one candidate surpasses the 50 percent threshold. If one candidate surpasses 50 percent in first-choice votes, then ranked-choice tabulations will not occur.[7]
In January 2020, Councilman Rafael Espinal resigned in order to take a job with the Freelancers Union, leaving his seat vacant. An April special election was called, but due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was moved to align with the concurrent 2020 elections. While the election initially appeared to be a competitive contest between Darma Diaz, Sandy Nurse, and several other candidates, a complex series of judicial rulings and political maneuvers meant that all candidates but Diaz were removed from the ballot, and Diaz won both the primary and general elections uncontested.[8]