Mark Gjonaj

Gjonaj was born in the Bronx to an Albanian family from Reč, Montenegro. He attended St. Raymond High School for Boys and graduated from St. John's University with a Bachelor of Arts degree.^[3][4]

Gjonaj is the president of M P Realty Group Corp., a real estate brokerage firm that he founded in 1999. His political experience prior to election was as a member of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission.

New York State Assembly

Gjonaj defeated incumbent assemblywoman Naomi Rivera in the 2012 Democratic primary race. On November 6, 2012, he won the general election with 79% of the vote.^[5]

New York City Council

In 2017, Gjonaj entered the race to represent the 13th District of the New York City Council, to replace Councilman James Vacca, who had to step down due to term limits.^[6] Gjonaj won the five-way primary with 39% of the vote.

On November 8, 2017, Gjonaj won his bid to replace New York City Councilman James Vacca, defeating the Republican candidate John Cerini by a margin of 49% to 36%.^[7]

In 2020, in response to the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing recession, Gjonaj introduced a bill to cap fees charged by delivery applications (e.g. Grubhub).^[8]

In 2017, Gjonaj confirmed that he had used over $17,000 of donor funds to sue New York City for siting homeless shelters and mental health facilities in the Bronx.^[9]

In August 2018, Gjonaj was filmed chanting "shame" at Alessandra Biaggi, who was running in a primary against incumbent State Senator Jeffrey D. Klein. Gjonaj's chief of staff said that he was angry at Biaggi's support for bike infrastructure.^[10] Biaggi won the primary.