Rep. Nydia Velázquez announced she will not seek re-election, ending a 34-year tenure in Congress that began with her 1992 election and 1993 swearing-in. The 72-year-old was the first Puerto Rican woman elected to the U.S. House. She said the decision follows careful reflection and a desire to make way for new leadership. The announcement comes amid wider Democratic debates about age and generational change.
Rep. Nydia Velázquez to Retire After 34 Years, Urges Generational Change
Rep. Nydia Velázquez announced she will not seek re-election, ending a 34-year tenure in Congress that began with her 1992 election and 1993 swearing-in. The 72-year-old was the first Puerto Rican woman elected to the U.S. House. She said the decision follows careful reflection and a desire to make way for new leadership. The announcement comes amid wider Democratic debates about age and generational change.
12:29 PM, 11/21/2025Politics
New York Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D) announced she will not seek re-election, bringing to a close a 34-year career representing parts of New York City in the U.S. House of Representatives. Velázquez said, after careful reflection, that this will be her final term and that it is time for a new generation of leaders to step forward.
For more than three decades, I have had the privilege of a lifetime serving the people of New York City in the United States Congress.
After much reflection, I have decided that this will be my last term in Congress. This was not an easy decision, but I believe that the time is right for me to move on and for a new generation of leaders to step forward.
Velázquez was first elected in 1992 and has served in Congress since taking office in 1993. The 72-year-old broke barriers as the first Puerto Rican woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
I grew up in a small town of sugar cane fields in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico. My family did not have much — nine children in a wooden house.
Politics in Washington felt a world away. If you had told that little girl she would one day be the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress, she would never have believed it.
Velázquez's announcement arrives amid broader Democratic conversations about age and leadership. In recent months, younger challengers have entered primaries against long-serving incumbents, and debates over generational change intensified after attention to age during President Joe Biden's 2024 campaign.
Another senior New York Democrat, Rep. Jerry Nadler, has also said he plans to leave Congress at the end of his term and has spoken in favor of "generational change" within the party.