It’s the 12 Days of Ballotpedia! Your gift powers the trusted, unbiased information voters need heading into 2026. Donate now!
Alexander Caruso
Alexander Caruso (Democratic Party, Working Families Party) ran for election to the New York City Council to represent District 19. He did not appear on the ballot for the general election on November 4, 2025. He lost in the Democratic primary on June 24, 2025.
Caruso completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Alexander Caruso was born in New York, New York. He graduated from Francis Lewis High School. He earned a bachelor's degree from Queens College in 2021 and a graduate degree from Queens College in 2023.[1]
Elections
2025
See also: City elections in New York, New York (2025)
General election
General election for New York City Council District 19
Incumbent Vickie Paladino defeated Benjamin Chou in the general election for New York City Council District 19 on November 4, 2025.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Vickie Paladino (R / Conservative Party) | 57.9 | 24,285 |
 | Benjamin Chou (D)  | 42.1 | 17,654 | |
| Total votes: 41,939 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Alexander Caruso (Working Families Party)
Democratic primary election
Democratic Primary for New York City Council District 19
The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Benjamin Chou in round 1 .
|
Total votes: 11,575 |
|||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican Primary for New York City Council District 19
The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Vickie Paladino in round 1 .
|
||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
Conservative Party primary election
Conservative Primary for New York City Council District 19
The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Vickie Paladino in round 1 .
|
||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
Working Families Party primary election
Working Families Primary for New York City Council District 19
The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Alexander Caruso in round 1 .
|
||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Caruso in this election.
Campaign themes
2025
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Alexander Caruso completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Caruso's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
I’m a Gen Z substitute teacher and political organizer, born & raised in Bayside, Queens. Raised by an Italian father and Colombian mother, both in the legal profession, understanding the law, justice, and doing the right thing runs in my blood.
As a teacher, I know first-hand how broken our public education system is in NYC. I couldn't stand by working in a system that fails our children. I’m running for the same reason I became a teacher—for the kids. If we’re not building a better society for them, then what’s the point?
That means addressing our housing crisis, building better schools, and having a city government ran by tried and true public servants.
This is why I’m running for NYC Council District 19.- This is a call to all Queens, both residential and commercial alike to Unite! Around forty percent (24,133 units) of NYC Council District 19 are renters. We need a City Council, with the will and courage to stand up to the real estate lobby, The Real Estate Board of New York, REBNY.
-Office Conversions: Turning vacant office spaces into affordable housing units -Expanding supportive housing that integrates on-site services to help vulnerable populations -Empowering communities to control land, prevent displacement, and ensure housing remains permanently affordable.
-Increasing the supply of affordable housing, incentivizing mixed-income development, and leveraging federal and state resources for sustainable growth. - An educator by trade, I have a passion and focus for the education system. New York State spends upwards of 45 billion dollars on education in NYC, which is the largest municipal education budget in the country. Yet our schools don’t rank in the top 10 in the United States. Unfortunately, this system has declined, spurred by poor leadership during DeBlasio and Adams mayoral administration. In the last decade alone, NYC has seen lowered test standards, and literacy rates, and cut the arts programs. Resulting in a decline in the quality of our student’s education across the board. -Fight for universal after-school programs. -Make CUNY colleges tuition-free! -Fair Pay for Our Paraprofessionals -Build more schools!
- Public safety extends to more than just tackling crime; it requires a holistic approach that ensures safe streets, safe communities, and trusted public institutions. I will work to create safer neighborhoods without compromising justice and fairness. At the end of the day, I wanna fund cops, NOT robots! We need to investing in Alternatives: Funding mental health response teams, violence interruption programs, and reentry support to address the root causes of crime and promote community safety. -Supporting common-sense gun laws -community-based violence prevention - Expanding Vision Zero -safe storage regulations to keep firearms out of the wrong hands.
The way we do that is by ensuring constituent services are proactive, not reactive, and that district offices are hubs for organizing so that constituents can access the tools, skills, and training needed to find solutions to local problems.
-Organize a working-class bloc within the City Council to influence not only the Speaker’s race, committee chairs, and memberships.
Implement internal rules and reforms that limit the overwhelming power of the Speaker over the Council’s legislative and budget agenda and push the bounds of the body’s power as the effective counterweight to the Mayoralty.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2025 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on March 21, 2025
| |||||||||
