Jabari Brisport

Brisport taught primarily math to sixth and seventh graders at a public school in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.^[9] He is a member of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT).^[10]

At age 22, Brisport began organizing efforts in support of a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in New York.^[5]

A few years after that, Brisport got involved in the burgeoning Black Lives Matter movement and began organizing rallies and protests, as well as training protesters on what to do if stopped or harassed by the police.^[11] In 2017, he traveled to Charlottesville, Virginia, to march in the counter-protest of a Unite the Right rally.^[12]

Brisport joined the New York City chapter of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) shortly after Donald Trump's election as president, and got involved in their work on access to affordable housing. He quickly became a leader in the fight against the private development of the Bedford Union Armory in Crown Heights.^{[13][14][15][16]}

In 2017, Brisport ran against incumbent Laurie Cumbo in the 35th New York City Council District. In a rare Green Party primary, he defeated Scott Hutchinson, 32 votes to 4.^[3] Brisport was partially inspired to run for office by Senator Bernie Sanders^[17] and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.^[18] He was endorsed by Our Revolution, New York Communities for Change,^[3] and the New York Chapter of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).^[16] He lost the election, receiving 29% of the vote.^[19][20] Brisport earned more independent votes than any council candidate since 2003.^[21]

In 2019, Brisport announced a run for the New York State Senate 25th District seat being vacated by Velmanette Montgomery.^[22] On September 29, 2019, he was endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America.^[23] His campaign did not accept any donations from the real estate industry or any for-profit corporations. Instead, it received donations from over 7,000 individuals, breaking the record for most donors to a New York State-level campaign.^[24][25] According to the campaign, it also had the support of over 1,000 volunteers.^[26] His campaign was also endorsed by Ocasio-Cortez, Sanders, Cynthia Nixon, New York Communities for Change, and the Working Families Party.^[5][27]

On election night of the Democratic primary on June 23, 2020, Brisport led the race with 52.25% of the vote against sitting Assemblywoman Tremaine Wright and former Montgomery staffer Jason Salmon. But there were more absentee ballots than usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and on election night there were still 26,000 absentee ballots to be counted.^[28] Brisport declared victory on July 23, once the absentee ballots had been counted and his lead over Wright had grown to 10,000 votes.^[29] He won the November general election, becoming the first openly gay person of color ever elected to the New York legislature.^[30]

In 2022, Brisport faced Conrad Tillard in the State Senate district 25 race.^[31] Brisport was backed by the DSA and by unions including 1199SEIU and District Council 37. Tillard was endorsed by New York City Mayor Eric Adams, State Senator Kevin Parker, and former New York City Councilman Robert Cornegy.^{[32][33][31][34]} Tillard ran as a more moderate and centrist candidate than Brisport, and was critical of his support of socialism.^[35][33][36] Brisport won re-nomination in the three-way race, with 70% of the vote to Tillard's 16%.^[37][38][39]

Brisport came to identify as a democratic socialist through Bernie Sanders's presidential campaign, for which he volunteered as a canvasser and phone-banker.^[11] He is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).^[16]

Brisport was arrested while protesting the re-development of the vacant Bedford Union Armory in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.^{[13][14][15][19]} He argued that the development should be 100% affordable housing.^[19] He has advocated for a vacancy tax and a pied-à-terre tax.^[40]

Brisport is an advocate for the New York Health Act, which would establish single-payer healthcare in New York State.^[41] He starred in a 2021 advertisement for the Campaign for New York Health along with then-assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, portraying a firefighter.^[41]

Brisport supports the elimination of cash bail, the legalization of injection sites for drug users, the restoration of voting rights for persons who have been incarcerated, elder parole, and the decriminalization of prostitution.^[42]

• Official website Archived July 3, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
• Jabari Brisport at IMDb