WASHINGTON (1010 WINS) – Rep. Ritchie Torres, the former City Council member, was among the new members of the 117th Congress officially sworn in on Sunday.
Torres, a Democrat, tweeted video showing him arriving at his new office in the Cannon Building.
"Seeing my own name on a House plaque is surreal," he tweeted.
Torres, who grew up in the Bronx and is the first openly gay Afro-Latino elected to Congress, spoke with 1010 WINS about what it was like to enter his office on Capitol Hill.
"I was born in and raised in the Bronx. I've spent most of my life in poverty. I was raised by a single mother who had to raise three children on minimum wage, which in the 1990s was $4.25," Torres said. "I grew up in public housing and I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would embark on a journey that would take me from public housing in the Bronx to the House of Representatives in Washington D.C."
He said he hoped his experience could serve as an inspiration to other people.
"I hope that my journey from public housing in the Bronx to the House of Representatives in Washington D.C. can offer an inspirational example of what is possible in America," he said. "That I can represent the hope that you can overcome overwhelming odds and become a leader at the highest levels of American politics."
Torres was joined in the freshman class by Rep. Mondaire Jones, who is the first openly gay Black member of Congress and also a Democrat from New York.
"Seeing my name on the wall still doesn't feel real," Jones tweeted Saturday. "Thank you all for joining me on this journey."
Torres is representing New York's 15th congressional district, which includes the Bronx, and Jones is representing New York's 17th congressional district, which includes Rockland County and parts of Westchester.
