NEW YORK CITY – New York Congressman Ritchie Torres is an emerging leader and outside-the-box thinker in the Democratic Party. He stands firm in his support for the people of Israel while working to build a better community at home.
CBN News met up with Torres in the Bronx, where he grew up in public housing, experiencing good times, as well as some hardships. He says his early years are what helped cultivate his love for the people there, eventually leading to his love for public service.
“My life has been a journey; from public housing in the Bronx, to the House of Representatives in Washington D.C, I never thought in my wildest dreams,” said Torres. “I spent all my life in the Bronx, all my childhood in poverty. I was raised by a single mother, where to raise three of us on minimum wage in the 1990s was $4.25 an hour.”
At 37, Rep. Torres has overcome improbable odds. During his early years in the Throggs Neck Houses, Mr. Torres also experienced his first ugly encounter with New York City politics.
As a child, his severe asthma grew worse, as neglected maintenance allowed mold to grow in his family’s unit. Meanwhile, millions of dollars were poured into a prestigious golf course close by. This lit a fire in Torres to create change, but not before struggling through years of brokenness and inner turmoil.
“I had dropped out of college. I found myself struggling with depression, abusing substances. There were moments when I thought of taking my own life,” he said.
Even though Torres’s world around him had seemingly collapsed, he didn’t give up. Just two years later, at 24, he’d make history as one of the youngest elected New York City councilmen.
“The grace of God, with the unwavering support of my mother, that I would overcome these challenges and become the youngest elected official in America’s largest city, and then a few years later, become a member of the United States Congress,” said Torres.
His experiences, from his tough childhood to dropping out of college, have helped him in some ways to connect with certain constituents and everyday working people.
“I know what it’s like to face food insecurity and housing insecurity. I know what it’s like to struggle with mental illness and substance abuse. These are not abstractions to me. These are realities that I’ve lived in,” he said.
Today, Torres brings that wisdom and on-the-ground life experience to the halls of Congress. He fights to prioritize issues his constituents face in the Bronx’s 15th district, down in Washington, like housing and an affordability crisis, as well as the open-air drug market.
Thousands of miles away from the Bronx, Torres also keeps a close watch on the crisis surrounding the people in a country close to his heart.
“When you experience both the complexity and majesty of Israel, of Jerusalem, it has a formative and transformative experience on you, you know, to experience the Old City, Yad Vashem, which is the Holocaust Museum, the Masada, the Gaza Envelope,” he said.
The congressman has spent the past decade traveling to parts of Israel and tells CBN News a conversation with a local mayor in Israel helped shape his views and unwavering support for its people.
“He said that the majority of his children struggle with post-traumatic stress because families… like kids live under the threat of relentless rocket fire. And I come from the Bronx, which can be a rough neighborhood,” said Torres. “You know, I have family and friends and neighbors who live in fear of guns and bullets. But no American lives in fear of rockets.”
“Before you rush to judge Israel, you should actually go there,” he continued. “Speak to both Israelis and Palestinians. Speak to Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs. Go to the Old City. Go to the Masada. Go to Yad Vashem. Go to State Road. See the facts on the ground with your own eyes. And I guarantee you, if you have an open heart and an open mind, you will come to realize that the reality of Israel is far more complicated than the caricature that percolates on social media platforms, and on college campuses.”
He has received some severe backlash for his views about Israel.
“Look, I face hatred from the extremes of, both of the political spectrum. There is no topic on which I face more hate, harassment, and even death threats than on the subject of Israel. I’ve had my office vandalized. I’ve been ambushed outside my home. My mother has been the target of harassment. There was an activist who said, ‘You’re a genocide mother, you should have aborted your son.’ You know, I’ve lost relationships both in my family and friendships because the issue is so emotionally charged. But I feel like I’ve taken a principled position in favor of what is right.”
Torres says he won’t allow that violence or hatred to stop him from standing for what is right; reminding Americans that October 7th was a crime against humanity that must never be forgotten and never be repeated.
That doesn’t mean he agrees with everything Prime Minister Netanyahu has done during the war.
“You know, just like I have criticisms of the American government, I have criticisms of the Israeli government. But I love America, and I love Israel. Ask yourself, how would you feel in the face of such overwhelming terror and violence? And how would you expect your government to respond to defend you and the people you love?” he said.
“The primary responsibility for the war in Gaza lies with Hamas, and that’s a fact that should never be forgotten. And I feel like if you are, if you were Rip Van Winkle and you’ve been asleep … and you woke up and you saw the media coverage, you would think that October 7th never happened, that Israel just one day decided to wage a war of aggression on Palestinians,” Torres said.
Not everyone in his party shares his views. For example, the Democratic mayoral nominee for New York City, Zohran Mamdani, has been so vocal against Israel that charges of antisemitism have surfaced.
Torres said, “I will cooperate with (a potential) Mayor Mamdani on the issues on which we agree, and then on the issues on which we disagree, you know, we’ll have a vigorous debate in the marketplace of ideas. We should strive for constructive criticism and debate without demonization.”
“The story of Israel and the United States is not a story of perfection. It’s a story of progress. These are two fundamentally democratic societies that I believe are on the right side of history,” he said.
Congressman Torres continues to prioritize bringing home the Israeli hostages who were taken captive nearly 700 days ago.
