Mathieu Eugene

Eugene is a Haitian-American, born in Cap-Haïtien in April 1954.^{[citation needed]}

He is also a physician, having attended medical school in Belgium^{[citation needed]}, the Dominican Republic^{[citation needed]}, and Mexico.^{[citation needed]}

He claims to have a medical degree from Universidad del Noreste in Mexico but there is no record of him practicing in the U.S.^[1]

Before he became a City Council member, he described himself as a community organizer.

In 2006, Councilwoman Yvette Clarke resigned following her election to the United States Congress. In the special election to replace her, Eugene won both the non-partisan primary and the general election. Eugene is the first Haitian-born elected official in the state of New York.^[2][3]

Eugene was re-elected in 2009, 2013, and 2017. He ran for Brooklyn Borough President in 2020 and endorsed his relative Maxi Eugene to succeed him in city council.

In an effort to be elected Brooklyn Borough President in 2020, Eugene prioritized special interest groups outside of his district and disbursed funds intended for council district 40 elsewhere. An investigation by The Haitian Times ^[4] found that Eugene gave over $946,000 in discretionary funds to groups outside District 40 in FY2020, compared to $298,600 to organizations located within district 40.

A City & State analysis found that in 14 years in the city council, he was the primary sponsor of only 141 pieces of legislation: 78 of those were “resolutions” —effectively non-binding statements with little impact on city operations. Of the remaining 63 sponsored “introductions,” or proposed changes to local law, only 11 were enacted in 14 years.^[5][6]

Eugene is a practicing Catholic.^{[citation needed]}

He is a black belt in the martial art of Taekwondo.^[7]