David Carr (New York politician)

David Carr was born on Staten Island and is a lifelong resident of the Grasmere section of the borough.^[3] He attended local schools including the former St. John Villa Academy and Monsignor Farrell High School. Carr went on to earn a B.A. from Georgetown University. His first senior role in local government was as chief of staff to then-assemblyman Joe Borelli and later in the same position for council member and later New York City Council minority leader Steven Matteo.^[4]

Carr became a candidate for the 50th Council District of the New York City Council in 2020, and sought to be the latest in a continuous line of representatives for that seat going back to its creation in 1991 when John Fusco was first elected. Since then, each new council member had been the chief of staff of his immediate predecessor.^[5] Carr was endorsed by the Staten Island Republican Party.^[6]

As one of five candidates in the primary, Carr made his campaign about public safety by calling for 6,000 new police officers to be hired over the ensuing five fiscal years, and the restoration of qualified immunity to New York City Police Department officers.^[7] The contest became contentious as Carr accused an opponent, Marko Kepi, of illegal ballot harvesting including the registering of a dead person to vote and of forging signatures to get absentee ballots.^[8] This in turn led to recriminations of racism and vote manipulation.^[6] After losing a manual recount, Kepi took the matter to court where the presiding judge noted disturbing patterns in the signatures on the absentee envelopes.^[9] Ultimately, Carr prevailed in all court challenges, sustaining his win of the GOP nomination.^[10]

In the general election, Carr defeated Sal Albanese (Democrat) and George Wonica (Conservative).^[11] He was sworn in early to take over for the unexpired term of Matteo after the latter left to lead a Staten Island not-for-profit.^[12] Carr became the only openly gay Republican elected representative for Staten Island and the first openly gay Republican on the City Council.^[13]

Carr was unopposed for re-election in 2023 as the nominee of the Republican and Conservative parties.^[14] He was re-elected to a final four-year term in 2025 also as the Republican and Conservative nominee with over 75% of the vote.^[15]

Carr passed two pieces of legislation in his first term. The first required the New York City Department of Buildings to give fee waivers for those seeking permits to build back after a fire after caused by a defect and to give permit fee waivers for those seeking to correct that same defect before a fire would happen in their homes.^[16] The second allowed the city to set a different interest rate on unpaid property taxes for individuals and families that entered into a repayment plan with the New York City Department of Finance in order to give them a lower interest payment.^[17]

As chair of the Italian Caucus, Carr has strongly supported the retention of Columbus Day as a holiday.^[18] He is a member of the LGBTQIA+ Caucus.^[19]

In 2024, amid a housing shortage in New York City, Carr voted against a proposal (City of Yes) to permit construction of 80,000 new housing units across the city over a 15-year period.^[20] He argued that the environmental effects of new housing had not been studied.^[20]

Carr was elected Minority Leader of the council's Republican caucus on January 28, 2025 because he had more seniority than Councilwoman Ariola and there was a tie vote. The vote was disputed as a quorum was not present (attendance via Zoom was not factored into the numerical quorum). Speaker Adams had to intervene. The council's attorney recommended against certifying the vote.^[21] Carr became the first gay person elected leader of the Republican caucus or Republican conference of the New York City Council. Councilwoman Ariola served as the minority leader until January 7, 2026.^[22]

On January 7, 2026, Carr was elected to his second term as minority leader of the New York City Council. With former councilwoman Kristy Marmorato losing re-election to Shirley Aldebol in 2025, councilwoman Joann Ariola lost a vote during the private election. Vickie Paladino, Frank Morano and Inna Vernikov supported Carr.^[22] He became the only openly gay person elected leader of the New York City Republican caucus twice within less than one year.^[22]

In April 2026, Carr announced that he intends to run for Staten Island Borough President in 2029.^[23]

• LGBT culture in New York City
• List of LGBT people from New York City