Justin Sanchez was sworn in on Jan. 17, as a council member for New York City District 17, officially beginning his term representing Hunts Point, Longwood, Morrisania and surrounding South Bronx neighborhoods.
As snow fell steadily outside, residents, students, faith leaders and elected officials gathered to watch Sanchez take the oath of office in the district he won just months earlier after running a campaign focused on sanitation, neighborhood safety and door-to-door organizing.
The ceremony at James Monroe Education Campus, administered by Attorney General Letitia James, united a wide array of local residents, organizers, young volunteers, officials, elders and families, who knew Sanchez as a neighbor or a Parkchester kid, long before he took office.
The ceremony’s significance went beyond politics, as the stories of the afternoon highlighted the people that shaped Sanchez’s path to City Hall.
Before Sanchez took the oath, the room quieted for remarks from his mother, Ruth Sanchez, introduced by State Sen. Nathalia Fernandez, for whom Sanchez previously served as Chief of Staff.
Standing at the podium, Ruth Sanchez spoke as both the mother of a newly sworn council member and as a lifelong Bronx resident who has seen how policy decisions affect homes, schools and city streets.
She spoke candidly about becoming pregnant during her senior year at Mount Saint Ursula and being urged by nearly everyone around her not to continue the pregnancy.
“Everyone told me not to have him, and I mean everyone. That my life and his would be limited before it ever began. Despite what everyone told me, I chose you.”
She recounted raising her son amid instability and financial strain, including nights sleeping on Parkchester benches.
“There was a time when my son and I had no home, no bedroom, no roof, just each other,” she said. “We slept on the benches in Parkchester, right in front of the Fantasia statue. And I whispered to him, ‘Mi hijo, un día la vida será diferente.’ ‘One day, life will be different.’”
In an interview with the Bronx Times, Ruth Sanchez reflected on what her mother would have felt seeing her grandson sworn into office.
“My mother would be beside herself,” she said. “Justin was her pride. I know that if she were here, she would feel an overwhelming sense of love and how proud she is of him.”
She credited her mother for instilling in the family a commitment to giving back, even when resources were scarce.
“She came here with nothing,” Ruth Sanchez said. “And to think that even with nothing, she always gave back. Justin is taking that to another level. Everything that I instilled in him, everything that my mother instilled in him, it’s not just a vision. He’s an embodiment of that.”
For Sanchez, the ceremony’s date held personal significance. Jan. 17 marked 10 years since his grandmother’s death, a moment he has described as pivotal in his decision to return to public service.
“That was the impetus for me getting involved in government and politics and community service,” Sanchez said. “And 10 years later, here I am being elected to the City Council.”
He said the decision to run was shaped in part by a conversation with a friend who challenged him to take his responsibility to participate in democracy seriously.
“A good friend turned to me and said, ‘Do you believe in the very premise of democracy? And if you believe in it, are you willing to fight for it?’” Sanchez said. “I’m willing to fight for it.”
He cited his grandmother’s immigration story as the root of that commitment.
“I think of my grandmother who came here from the Dominican Republic when she was 16, with 30 bucks in her pocket, fleeing a dictatorship,” he said.
“She settled in the Bronx with the promise of opportunity. If I don’t fight for it, if I don’t put everything I have into it, then I’m letting her dream fail.”
Throughout the program, Sanchez’s campaign was repeatedly cited as an example of grassroots organizing, especially given its reliance on high school and college students from the district and the absence of outside consultants.
Nasir Davis, a high school volunteer and youth advisory board member, described watching Sanchez build trust across neighborhoods.
“Everyone’s hard work resulted in Justin’s victory,” Davis said. “And it sent a message throughout the Bronx. We have a leader. We have a vision. And we have a voice.”
Sanchez used his remarks to emphasize that his blunt campaign promise — “Clean the Damn Streets” — had already begun translating into action.
“I was named chair of the Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management,” he said. “That role matters — because cleaning the damn streets was not just a campaign slogan. It was a commitment that came from listening to our neighbors.”
He added that residents consistently urged him to focus on tangible, everyday improvements.
“They told me to start with what we can see, what we can feel, start with our block,” he said.
Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson later connected Sanchez’s rise to broader themes within the borough, pointing to persistence, struggle, and community pride.
“The story of struggle, of resilience, of fighting the good fight — that is the story of the Bronx,” she said.
She described Sanchez’s campaign as one built “door by door, block by block,” shaped by conversations with Bronx residents about street cleanliness, economic opportunity, education and good-paying jobs.
“When we are aligned together with our priorities,” Gibson said, “we are unstoppable as a borough.”
City Council Speaker Julie Menin highlighted Sanchez’s persistence on the campaign trail, describing his refusal to skip canvassing a building filled with signs for an opponent.
“There was a huge sign for his opponent,” Menin said. “I said, ‘Okay, we’ll go to the next door.’ Justin said, ‘Absolutely not. We’re knocking.’ And he persuaded that voter.”
Menin also noted that Sanchez is balancing City Council duties with law school at Fordham.
“Has anyone talked about the fact that he is in law school at Fordham Law?” she said. “It’s hard enough to go to law school in the first place, but to go while campaigning for office and now while serving as a council member, that’s a testament to his discipline and work ethic.”
Before administering the oath, Attorney General Letitia James urged Sanchez to approach public office with courage and moral clarity, warning of growing political hostility toward LGBTQ+ communities, immigrants and communities of color.
“Justin, when you get that law degree, understand that it’s about protecting our rights,” James said. “Understand that it’s about standing up for the rule of law and defending our democracy. It’s about standing up for the least of God’s children, no matter the consequences.”
In closing remarks, Sanchez framed his election as part of a broader effort to make local government more accountable and responsive and emphasized quality-of-life improvements as the measure residents would use to judge his administration.
Sanchez said the message he heard most clearly while canvassing was that residents want a future rooted in dignity, opportunity and investment in their own neighborhoods, a responsibility he now carries into office.
“We are going toward a future where the Bronx is fully seen, fully valued, and where our kids don’t have to leave their community to find opportunity,” he said. “Opportunity should live and breathe right here.”
Kaylen Jackson is a contributing writer at the Bronx Times and a student at the NYU Graduate School of Journalism. For more coverage, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
