"There is No Genocide." NY Puppetician Ritchie Torres Represents the Poorest District in US But He Serves Israel; Received $1.4M from Israeli Lobby, Delivers Little to His 90% Non-White Constituents
/
Rep. Ritchie Torres (NY-15) has emerged as the “one of the most outspoken congressional supporters of Israel,” according to the New York Daily News. His love of Israel and his hatred of its critics, namely those in the so-called Squad and Democratic Socialists of America, is evidenced in his frequent petty, screedy Twitter battles with both.
A survey of his public statements—from his congressional website, Facebook page, and Twitter account—reveal a man whose most important topic isn’t the rampant poverty that makes his congressional district the poorest in the country, but the nominal wellbeing and arming of Israel.
In public statements since coming into office in Jan. 2021, Torres has mentioned “Israel” 337 times and “poverty” 143 times. On his official website there are 202 mentions of Israel and 77 mentions of poverty. On Twitter there are 73 tweets about Israel and 12 about poverty. On Facebook, there are 62 mentions of Israel and 54 mentions of poverty.
According to Food Research and Action Center’s figures, using data from 2017, New York’s 15th district is by far the poorest of the 435 congressional districts in the US. 36.2% of Torres’ constituency lives below the poverty line. For reference, the second and third poorest districts in the country, Michigan 15 and Kentucky 5, have a poverty rate of roughly 29 percent, or 7 percentage points lower than the NY-15.
This isn’t to say Torres doesn’t talk about poverty at all, just that he does so way less than he talks about Israel. He’s campaigned for Democrats to pass the Child Income Tax Credit that was central to reducing childhood poverty. He’s proposed bills to increase housing vouchers and “protect” Medicare for Seniors—fairly standard liberal Democrat fare, though nothing particularly progressive or subversive. Torres ostensibly supported a Medicare for All bill in 2021, but never posted on social media or issued a press release about it. [MORE]
Torres received the 7th highest donation out of 435 members of Congress in 2022 from Pro-Israel PACs, or roughly $291,961. [MORE]. Over the past 3 years he received over $1.4 million from pro-Israel lobbies in just three short years. [MORE]
The coin-operated puppetician appears to have done little to address the emergency like conditions plaguing Latino and Black people in his district:
Torres took office on January 3, 2021. He represents the poorest congressional district in the United States.Upon his swearing-in, he became the first openly gay Afro-Latin American member of Congress.
On August 6, 2021, Torres introduced H.R. 4980, which would "ensure that any individual traveling on a flight that departs from or arrives to an airport inside the United States or a territory of the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19".
Torres voted with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time in the 117th Congress, according to a FiveThirtyEight analysis.
Torres was among the 46 Democrats who voted against final passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 in the House.[71] He said his vote was motivated by the new SNAP requirements included in the deal, which raised the work requirements from able-bodied adults under age 50 who do not live with any dependent children to adults under age 54, and the diversion of $20 billion in funding for the Internal Revenue Service.
Torres reintroduced the B.O.D.E.G.A. Act in the House of Representatives in 2025. If signed into law, the legislation would offer federal funds to bodegas to cover the cost of security equipment such as panic buttons and security cameras, as well as their installation. [MORE]
