Jesse Hamilton

Jesse Hamilton is an American lawyer and Republican-aligned politician from the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City.

Hamilton was born and raised in the South Bronx. He later moved to Crown Heights, and served on the school board, as president of his block association and as president of the Rosa Parks Independent Democratic Organization. He also served as counsel for Eric Adams while Adams served in the New York State Senate.^[1]

On September 9, 2014, Hamilton won the Democratic Party primary election to represent District 20 in the State Senate, which had been vacant since Adams resigned to be sworn in as Brooklyn's Borough President in 2013.^[2] As there was no Republican Party opponent, Hamilton ran unopposed in the November general election.^[1] In 2016, Hamilton announced that he would no longer support his fellow Democrats in the Senate and would instead support the Republicans as part of the Republican-aligned Independent Democratic Conference.^[3] The IDC is a group of eight " Independent Democratic" Senators who do not support the Democratic leadership, enabling Republicans to control the chamber and its agenda. Independent Democrats are not a recognized political party in New York State, so Hamilton runs for office as a Democrat despite supporting the Republicans.

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