Kamillah Hanks

Kamillah Hanks
Majority Whip of the New York City Council
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 15, 2026
SpeakerJulie Menin
Preceded bySelvena Brooks-Powers
Member of the New York City Council
from the 49th district
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 1, 2022
Preceded byDebi Rose
Personal details
Born (1972-09-04) September 4, 1972
PartyDemocratic
EducationCollege of Staten Island
WebsiteOfficial website

Kamillah M. Hanks (born September 4, 1972) is an American politician and New York City Council Member for the 49th District on the North Shore of Staten Island.

District 49 includes the neighborhoods of Arlington, Clifton, Clove Lakes, Concord, Elm Park, Graniteville, Livingston, Mariners Harbor, New Brighton, Port Richmond, Randall Manor, Rosebank, St. George, Snug Harbor, Silver Lake, Stapleton, Sunnyside, West Brighton and Tompkinsville.[1]

Life and career

Kamillah Hanks is a lifelong resident of Staten Island and a mother of four. Hanks attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and studied marketing and finance at the College of Staten Island.

Prior to holding office, Hanks served on the New York City Council Districting Commission,[2] as the Interim President of the Van Duzer Civic Association in Stapleton, and was the former executive director of the Downtown Staten Island Council. She also worked as a public relations consultant at the Staten Island Museum and the Staten Island Economic Development Corporation. In 2012 she founded the Historic Tappen Park Community Partnership, a 501(c)(3) dedicated to the upkeep and development of Tappen Park on Staten Island.[3] In 2014, Hanks was appointed by Staten Island Borough President James Oddo to the New York City Panel for Educational Policy, and served as the Staten Island representative until 2016.[4]

Hanks created the first YouthBuild program on Staten Island, which gives young adults who are unemployed and out of school access to advanced vocational education, leadership development, job training, and essential life skills.[5] In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she partnered with local small business owners and YouthBuild program participants to develop a program that produced over 5000 face shields that were given to Staten Island firefighters, first responders, and medical personnel in the larger New York City area. [6]

Hanks also helped found the Minority Women in Business Association of Staten Island in July 2020.[7]

New York City Council

In November 2021, Kamillah Hanks was elected to the New York City Council to represent the 49th District.[8]

Hanks was appointed Chair of the Committee on Public Safety and serves as a member of the Committee on Civil Service and Labor, Committee on Education, Committee on Environmental Protection, Committee on Finance, Committee on Land Use, and the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises.[1] As Chair of the Public Safety Committee, Council Member Hanks has chaired hearings on a number of topics, including, the Mayor's Blueprint to End Gun Violence, the Citywide Response to Hate Crimes and Discrimination, and Access to Firearms: City and State Efforts to Curb Gun Violence.[9]

During Women's History Month in 2022, she hosted Staten Island's first Women in Business Expo. The Expo brought attention to women owned businesses on Staten Island and showcased over 60 vendors from local businesses.[10]

During the Fiscal Year 2023 budget season, Hanks worked with fellow Staten Island City Council Members David Carr and Joe Borelli and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams to secure $7 million in funding for the expansion of Richmond University Medical Center's NICU and PICU.[11]

In 2024, Hanks opposed the City of Yes plan to increase housing supply in New York City. The plan proposed modest changes to zoning such as allowing owners of single-family homes and duplexes to add an extra unit on their lots, permit slightly more housing supply near transit stations, and ease the conversion of empty office buildings into housing. Hanks, who represents Staten Island which has produced very little housing in the last decade, said that any housing plan should "maybe use a scalpel as opposed to a hammer."[12]

Electoral history

2025

2025 New York City Council Democratic primary, District 49[13]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Kamillah Hanks (incumbent) 7,174 58.1
Democratic Abou S. Diakhate 1,979 16.0
Democratic Sarah Blas 1,902 15.4
Democratic Telee N. Brown 1,100 8.9
Write-in 193 1.6
Total votes 12,348 100.0
2025 New York City Council election, District 49[14]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Kamillah Hanks (incumbent) 20,263 55.2
Republican John E. Shea 12,490 34.1
Working Families Sarah Blas 3,310 9.0
New North Shore Sarah Blas 528 1.4
Total Sarah Blas 3,838 10.5
Write-in 90 0.2
Total votes 36,681 100.0
Democratic hold

2023

2023 New York City Council election, District 49[15]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Kamillah Hanks (incumbent) 6,859 58.6
Safe Streets SI Ruslan Shamal 1,418 2.3
Write-in 380 0.3
Total votes 8,657 100.0
Democratic hold

2021

2021 New York City Council Democratic primary, District 49[16]
Party Candidate Maximum
round		 Maximum
votes		 Share in
maximum
round		 Maximum votes
  First round votes   Transfer votes
Democratic Kamillah Hanks 9 5,996 56.9%
​​
Democratic Amoy Barnes 9 4,536 43.1%
​​
Democratic Ranti Ogunleye 8 2,329 20.4%
​​
Democratic Kelvin Richards 7 1,929 15.8%
​​
Democratic Selina Grey 6 1,657 13.1%
​​
Democratic David Hernandez 5 1,190 9.1%
​​
Democratic Michael P. Schnall 4 1,014 7.6%
​​
Democratic Troy McGhie 3 869 6.4%
​​
Democratic John F. McBeth Sr. 2 394 2.9%
​​
Write-In 1 53 0.4%
​​
2021 New York City Council election, District 49[17]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Kamillah Hanks 15,203 58.6
Republican Patricia Rondinelli 10,081 38.8
Ordinary People Jason R. Price 605 2.3
Write-in 76 0.3
Total votes 25,965 100.0
Democratic hold

References

  1. 1 2 "District 49". Kamillah Hanks.
  2. ↑ Randall, Judy L. (June 15, 2012). "Staten Islander among mayor's picks to districting commission". silive. Archived from the original on July 19, 2022. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
  3. ↑ Shahi, Priya (December 30, 2021). "Kamillah Hanks sworn in as North Shore's next NYC councilwoman". silive. Archived from the original on December 30, 2021. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
  4. ↑ Wrobleski, Tom (February 11, 2014). "Staten Island BP Oddo names Kamillah M. Hanks to Panel for Educational Policy". silive. Archived from the original on October 5, 2017. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
  5. ↑ Simas, Kayla (March 2, 2019). "First YouthBUILD program on Staten Island receives federal funding". silive. Archived from the original on December 1, 2020. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
  6. ↑ Dalton, Kristin (November 22, 2020). "How a civic activist turned one idea into a way to meet many needs at height of pandemic". silive. Archived from the original on June 23, 2022. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
  7. ↑ Kashiwagi, Sydney (July 16, 2020). "Staten Island women of color launch business association to help elevate fellow minority women in business". silive. Archived from the original on April 17, 2021. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
  8. ↑ Yates, James (November 3, 2021). "Election 2021 results: A look at how Staten Island voted for NYC mayor, borough races". silive. Archived from the original on December 4, 2021. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
  9. ↑ "The New York City Council - Committee on Public Safety". legistar.council.nyc.gov. Archived from the original on 2022-04-03. Retrieved 2022-07-18.
  10. ↑ Shahi, Priya (March 27, 2022). "First Staten Island Women in Business Expo showcases 60 ambitious vendors, each with a success story". silive. Archived from the original on March 28, 2022. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
  11. ↑ "New RUMC expansion of neonatal and pediatric intensive care units fueled with $7M from NYC". silive. June 14, 2022. Archived from the original on June 23, 2022. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
  12. ↑ Brand, David (2024-10-21). "NYC Council agrees housing crisis needs a fix, but many members question Mayor Adams' plan". Gothamist.
  13. ↑ "DEM Council Member 49th Council District". Vote NYC. New York City Board of Elections. July 22, 2025. Retrieved May 23, 2026.
  14. ↑ "00501100049Richmond Member of the City Council 49th Council District Recap.pdf" (PDF). Vote NYC. New York City Board of Elections. December 2, 2025. Retrieved May 23, 2026.
  15. ↑ "00501600049Richmond Member of the City Council 49th Council District Recap.pdf" (PDF). Vote NYC. New York City Board of Elections. December 5, 2023. Retrieved May 23, 2026.
  16. ↑ "DEM Council Member 49th Council District". Vote NYC. New York City Board of Elections. July 20, 2021. Retrieved May 23, 2026.
  17. ↑ "00500700049Richmond Member of the City Council 49th Council District Recap.pdf" (PDF). Vote NYC. New York City Board of Elections. November 30, 2021. Retrieved May 23, 2026.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.