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Kyle Athayde

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Kyle Athayde
Image of Kyle Athayde

Revive East Side Party

Candidate, New York City Council District 4

Elections and appointments
Next election

November 4, 2025

Education

High school

Phillips Exeter Academy

Bachelor's

City University of New York, Hunter College, 2013

Personal
Birthplace
New York, N.Y.
Religion
Roman Catholic
Profession
Operations director
Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Campaign YouTube

Kyle Athayde (Revive East Side Party) is running for election to the New York City Council to represent District 4. He is on the ballot in the general election on November 4, 2025.

Athayde completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Kyle Athayde was born in New York, New York. He earned a high school diploma from the Phillips Exeter Academy. He earned a bachelor's degree from City University of New York, Hunter College in 2013. His career experience includes working as an operations director, working at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and working at NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health.[1]

Athayde has been affiliated with the following organizations:[1]

  • Manhattan Community Board 6
  • Friends of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
  • Turtle Bay Association
  • Church of the Holy Family
  • iMentor
  • Best Buddies NYC
  • Generation Citizen

Elections

2025

See also: City elections in New York, New York (2025)

General election

General election for New York City Council District 4

Virginia Maloney, Debra Schwartzben, and Kyle Athayde are running in the general election for New York City Council District 4 on November 4, 2025.

Candidate
Image of Virginia Maloney
Virginia Maloney (D)
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Debra Schwartzben (R)
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Kyle Athayde (Revive East Side Party) Candidate Connection

There are no incumbents in this race.

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Democratic primary election

Democratic Primary for New York City Council District 4

The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Virginia Maloney in round 5 . The results of Round are displayed below. To see the results of other rounds, use the dropdown menu above to select a round and the table will update.

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 29,606
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Republican primary election

Republican Primary for New York City Council District 4

The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Debra Schwartzben in round 1 .

There are no incumbents in this race.

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Working Families Party primary election

Working Families Primary for New York City Council District 4

The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Vanessa Aronson in round 1 .

There are no incumbents in this race.

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.

Campaign themes

2025

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Kyle Athayde completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Athayde's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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I am a first-generation American, born and raised on the East Side: the candidate with the deepest roots in this community and the strongest record of leadership.

I was born at Metropolitan Hospital, went to daycare at the Vanderbilt YMCA, studied at P.S. 183 and Simon Baruch Middle School, and graduated from CUNY’s Hunter College.

This community raised me. But it wasn’t always easy. When my family was priced out of our apartment, we were homeless. We lived in a pastoral center, in the homes of church members, even at the YMCA. And yet, through inclusionary housing policies, we eventually found a permanent home here.

That experience shaped me. It showed me the power of neighbors looking out for one another, and the importance of leadership that ensures dignity, opportunity, and stability for every family.

Today, East Siders face new challenges: rising rents, depleted services, and a declining quality of life. With more than 14 years of experience in government and the public sector, and as the former Chair of Community Board 6, I know how to deliver results.

I’m running to Revive the East Side, combining my lived experience, professional expertise, and community leadership to fight for the kind of city we all believe in: a city where every family can thrive.

To learn more about my vision for District 4, visit www.kyle2025.com. Together, let’s build the future our community deserves.
  • GET THE POLITICS OUT OF POLITICS!

    For too long, politics in New York has been defined by partisanship, by gridlock, and by leaders who answer to special interests before they answer to their constituents. I’m running to change that.

    I’m not bound by party bosses or big money. I’m accountable only to the communities I serve. Independence means I can speak truth when others stay silent. It means I can bring people together when others drive us apart.

    This campaign is about reminding all of us that the government belongs to the people, not the parties, and that real change only happens when we refuse to accept politics as usual.
  • COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE I know this community because it made me who I am. I grew up here, went to public schools here, and when my family faced homelessness, it was the East Side that lifted us up. I’ve worked with every level of government, building partnerships, solving problems, and navigating complex systems to deliver results. As the Chair of Manhattan Community Board 6, I led the fight to stop the Soloviev Casino, kept our district safe during the pandemic, and oversaw the largest expansion of green space in a generation. I know what it means to fight through adversity, and I know how to make government work for people. That’s the experience I will bring to City Hall.
  • The challenges we face in District 4 are real: we are all struggling with affordability and quality of life. But I believe these challenges are not insurmountable. What they demand is innovation: the courage to think differently, to look beyond the status quo, and to harness the creativity and energy that has always defined this city. Progress doesn’t come by standing still; it comes when communities come together, when neighbors find common ground, and when leaders have the vision to see what’s possible. With the right leadership, the East Side can be more than a place we live – it can be a model of progress, opportunity, and shared purpose once again.
I am most passionate about public policy that restores a sense of dignity and hope to people’s lives. That means tackling homelessness and making sure all of our neighbors feel safe.

I believe leadership is not about serving the powerful – it is about lifting up those who feel unseen and unheard. I care deeply about the kind of policies that shape our daily lives in simple but profound ways – whether a child feels opportunity, whether a worker feels respect, whether a senior feels cared for.

Above all, I believe in a government that remembers its highest duty: to serve the people, and to ensure no one is left behind.
City Council is the level of government closest to the people. It deals with the daily lives of families, whether their rent is affordable, whether their streets are safe, whether their children have schools worthy of them. The Council holds the power of the purse, shaping a budget larger than that of most states, and with that comes the duty to spend wisely and justly. It makes the laws that govern the most diverse city in the world, and in doing so, it sets an example for the nation.

The City Council is where democracy is tested each day, where the voices of everyday people can still be heard, where a tenant, a worker, or a small business owner can come and see their government respond.

It is important because it reminds us that leadership is not distant, not removed, but rooted in neighborhoods, in communities, in the struggles of the people themselves. And its true measure is whether it uses its power to serve the many who depend upon it for justice, fairness, and hope.
I have always looked up to leaders who spoke for those who could not speak for themselves.

Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia showed that government could be both tough and compassionate, and that it could cut through politics to deliver for all New Yorkers.

Senator Robert F. Kennedy (NOT the current HHS Secretary!) inspired me with his belief that each of us has a duty to stand against injustice, and to measure our lives not by what we take, but by what we give.

And today, I look to Malala Yousafzai, a contemporary whose courage in the face of violence reminds us that one voice, even a young voice, can move the conscience of the world.

Their examples teach me that leadership is not about power, but about service, sacrifice, and hope.
Independence, integrity, and a deep sense of compassion for the people who make this city what it is. Independence, because in a city dominated by machines and special interests, leaders must answer only to their neighbors. Integrity, because New Yorkers can see through false promises. And, compassion, because politics is not about power for its own sake. It is about people, and the dignity of their lives.

An elected official must be willing to listen, to walk with those who feel unseen, and to place the public good above personal gain. In the end, what matters most is not ambition or title, but whether you have stood with those who had no one else to stand with them.
The first duty of a City Council member is to be present among the people. To walk the streets, to listen to their struggles, to share in their burdens. It is to provide service when a neighbor calls, and to see that government answers with compassion and efficiency. It is to manage the City Budget with honesty, so that every dollar serves the common good.

A Council Member must be a bridge, carrying the problems of the community into City Hall and returning with solutions. And above all, the responsibility is to remain faithful to the daily lives of New Yorkers: their safety, their dignity, and their hope.
As a City Council Member, I want to oversee the creation of a record amount of new, affordable housing units. I would hope my legacy is that I made life better for the people I served: that families could afford to stay in their homes, that streets were safer and cleaner, that neighbors felt heard and respected.

But more importantly, as a human being, I would hope to be remembered for standing with those who were struggling, giving voice to those who felt forgotten, and never losing sight of the dignity of every person.

Legacies are not measured in titles or offices held, but in whether, in our brief time, we helped bend our society closer toward justice and compassion.
While it is not the first historical event that occurred during my lifetime, the event that had the greatest impact on me was September 11th, when I was 10 years old.

I remember the confusion of that day, the fear in the voices of adults, and the images that seemed almost too terrible to be real.

But I also remember what came after: the way people helped one another, the way neighbors opened their doors, the way this city, wounded and grieving, found strength in unity. It taught me that tragedy can break us, but it can also bind us together. And it impressed upon me, even as a child, that leadership must be about service, and that the measure of a community is how it responds when tested.
I attended Hunter College with the hope of becoming an elementary school teacher.

My first job was as an afterschool counselor for children in kindergarten through fifth grade at a public school on the Upper West Side. I spent a year in that role, and can attest that there is no better preparation for public life than guiding a room full of spirited children!
The Grapes of Wrath is not simply a novel. It is a testament to the strength and dignity of people who endure suffering and injustice. Steinbeck wrote of families driven from their homes, wandering in search of work, hope, and a chance to live with decency. And though it is set in another time, it speaks to our own. It reminds us that poverty is not an abstraction, but a human condition felt in the hunger of children, in the exhaustion of workers, in the despair of those who feel forgotten.

What moves me most is the resilience of those families, and the truth that even in the darkest of times, compassion and solidarity can carry us forward. The Grapes of Wrath tells us that the real measure of a society is not in the wealth of the few, but in whether the many are able to live with dignity.

It is a book about struggle, but also about hope, and it has always reminded me that the purpose of leadership, the duty of government, is to stand with those who have no one else to stand with them.
If I could be any fictional character, I would choose Robin Williams’ character as the English teacher, John Keating in Dead Poets Society.

Keating believed in the power of young people, in their imagination, in their courage to see the world not as it is, but as it could be. He taught that words and ideas can change the world, that each of us has a voice, and a duty to use it.

What inspires me most is that Keating urged his students to “seize the day,” to live with purpose, to reject conformity, and to find the strength to stand for what they believe in. The belief in human potential, in justice, in the dignity of every person is what I hope to carry with me in public life. For the measure of leadership is not in what we take, but in how we inspire others to rise, to dream, and to act.
I grew up in poverty, the son of immigrants, and for a time, without a home. My family lived in a church, friends’ couches through the five boroughs, and even at the UWS YMCA. Too often, I heard “no” more than I heard “yes.” Poverty meant that I had to work twice as hard for half the recognition. It meant uphill battles at every stage: struggling not only to survive, but to be seen, to be heard, to be given the same opportunities as others.

But out of that hardship came lessons I still carry with me. I learned that resilience is born of struggle, that compassion grows out of suffering, and that dignity must never be taken for granted. I learned that the measure of a society is how it treats those who live in the shadows of poverty and experience inequality: children without homes, families without means, neighbors who feel forgotten.

My own life has been shaped by this truth. I have been underestimated, but never defeated. And it is that experience which compels me to speak for those who are still told they cannot, to fight for those who are unseen, to bend government toward justice, and to remind this city that no New Yorker should ever have to walk that hard road alone.
One of the lesser-known powers of the New York City Council is its role in shaping the leadership of our Community Boards. To many, that may seem like a small responsibility, but in truth, it is one of the most important.

Community Boards are where the daily struggles of New Yorkers are first heard: the tenant facing eviction, the parent fighting for a playground, the small business owner burdened by red tape. They are the foundation of local democracy, and the people who serve on them carry the voice of their neighborhoods.

The Council has the power to recommend and shape those appointments, and with that power comes a duty: to choose leaders who will listen, who will fight, who will serve not themselves, but the community. It is a responsibility that is too often overlooked, yet it is there that the principles of justice, fairness, and participation are most directly lived.
Yes. I believe it is beneficial for members of the City Council to have previous experience in government because this office carries great responsibility: it manages a budget larger than that of most states, it makes laws that shape the lives of millions, and it must hold powerful institutions to account. Experience provides the knowledge to navigate these systems, to move beyond rhetoric, and to deliver real results for the people.

But, experience alone is not enough. It must be joined with independence, with compassion, and with the courage to act on behalf of those who too often go unheard. Experience in government is valuable because it can shorten the distance between a neighbor’s struggle and a solution. And at its best, it gives a council member the tools not only to understand the machinery of government, but to bend it toward justice.
The skills most needed in the City Council today are not only technical, but moral. We need leaders free from the weight of party machines and special interests, who are able to speak honestly and act boldly. We need a new generation of leadership, willing to break from the old patterns of gridlock and fear, and to bring forward ideas that are innovative, imaginative, and unafraid of change.

But skill alone is not enough. What also matters is lived experience in the issues most important to us – leaders who understand hardship not as an abstraction, but as life itself, who know what it means to struggle for a home, for safety, for dignity. And with that, there must also be professional expertise, the ability to navigate government, to build coalitions, to shape strategic initiatives, and to move from promises to results.

The Council needs members who can marry experience in the system and experience in the struggle because only then can government truly serve the people.
What makes the New York City Council unique is the scope of its authority and the closeness of its responsibility. It holds the power of the purse over an $100+ billion budget (which is larger than most states!) and with it the ability to decide how resources are invested in housing, schools, public safety, and health, amongst other important issues. It exercises legislative authority, drafting local laws that shape everything from zoning and land use to tenant protections and environmental standards. And, it provides oversight of city agencies, ensuring accountability in how services are delivered.

Beyond its technical powers, the Council is also unique because its work is immediate and personal. It is the forum where communities bring their concerns, where local issues meet the machinery of government. It is important not only because of its legal authority, but because it is the place where government is most directly tested – where the promises of democracy are either made real in people’s daily lives, or left unmet.
Forward Party
New York Immigration Coalition Action
The stories I hear most often are not about one family or one neighborhood alone, but about a deeper frustration that runs through our city. People tell me they feel trapped by a two-party system that no longer speaks for them. They speak of a government that too often promises but does not deliver, that listens but does not hear. And what touches me most is not only their frustration, but their yearning for a new generation of leadership that is independent, forward-looking, and willing to meet the challenges of today with energy and purpose.

These voices are asking us to rise to the occasion, to bring fresh ideas and bold action, and to renew their faith in what government can and must be.
I led immigration initiatives for the State of New York from 2015 to 2022, during some of the most difficult years in our nation’s history. At a time when the federal government sought to vilify and divide, we chose a different path. We led with compassion and built strong systems that upheld the rule of law and gave people dignity in the process. We supported thousands of immigrants and refugees, families who had fled violence and persecution, people who came here seeking only the chance to work, to raise their children, and to live in peace.

My programs received national recognition from the Harvard Kennedy School as among the Top Government Innovations in the country, and led to the creation of similar programs in numerous other states. But, most importantly, we stood with people at a moment when they needed someone to stand with them. Leadership is not about comfort, but about conscience. And I believe that government, at its best, is not a weapon to exclude, but a bridge to bring people in.

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.

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    Footnotes

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 4, 2025
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