Troy Blackwell

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Troy Blackwell

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

June 22, 2021

Education

Bachelor's

City College of New York, 2017

Personal

Birthplace

New York, N.Y.

Religion

Christian

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

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Personal LinkedIn

Troy Blackwell (Democratic Party) ran for election to the New York City Council to represent District 15. He lost in the Democratic primary on June 22, 2021.

Blackwell completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Troy Blackwell was born in New York, New York. He earned a bachelor's degree from City College of New York - CUNY in 2017. Blackwell pursued his graduate education at Columbia University and conducted research in Spain and Senegal as a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholar. Blackwell was appointed by the Biden administration to be press director/spokesperson for the Peace Corps. He was sworn into office on June 21, 2022.

Blackwell's career experience includes working at the White House Office of Public Engagement during the Obama administration. He also worked in press-related roles for Vice President Kamala Harris (D). Blackwell founded the organization Ready for Change, which describes its mission as "to make democracy more representative by increasing voter participation among youth and communities of color at the local and state level."

In January 2022, Blackwell was elected chairperson for the Big Apple Performing Arts Inc., a nonprofit management company that oversees the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus and Youth Pride Chorus. He also worked on participatory budgeting, a municipal public budget process, for the City of New York in 2015. From 2024 to 2025, Blackwell was Deputy Chief Communications Officer at the Department of Commerce's Patent and Trademark Office. Blackwell also has experience working as the Senior Advisor of the Office of Enterprise Integration at the U.S. Selective Service System.

Awards and associations

• 2021: Impact Award, Gay City News
• 2020: The Most Purposeful Person Award, PRWEEK
• 2016: Prince of the National Puerto Rican Day Parade, New York City

Elections

2021

See also: City elections in New York, New York (2021)

General election

General election for New York City Council District 15

Incumbent Oswald Feliz defeated Ariel Rivera-Diaz in the general election for New York City Council District 15 on November 2, 2021.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Oswald Feliz (D)	84.1	7,224
		Ariel Rivera-Diaz (R / Conservative Party)	15.6	1,340
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	21

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 8,585
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic Primary for New York City Council District 15

Select round: Round 6 Round 5 Round 4 Round 3 Round 2 Round 1

The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Oswald Feliz in round 6 . 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.

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Oswald Feliz	65.2	4,348	557	Advanced (6)
		Ischia J. Bravo	34.8	2,325	286	6
		Bernadette Ferrara	0.0	0	-1,421	5
		John Sanchez	0.0	0	0	4
		Troy Blackwell	0.0	0	0	3
	Submit photo	Kenny Agosto	0.0	0	0	2
		Latchmi Gopal	0.0	0	0	2
	Submit photo	Lillithe Lozano	0.0	0	0	2

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Oswald Feliz	52.3	3,791	383	Advanced (6)
		Ischia J. Bravo	28.1	2,039	227	6
		Bernadette Ferrara	19.6	1,421	177	5
		John Sanchez	0.0	0	-1,195	4
		Troy Blackwell	0.0	0	0	3
	Submit photo	Kenny Agosto	0.0	0	0	2
		Latchmi Gopal	0.0	0	0	2
	Submit photo	Lillithe Lozano	0.0	0	0	2

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Oswald Feliz	44.5	3,408	161	Advanced (6)
		Ischia J. Bravo	23.7	1,812	111	6
		Bernadette Ferrara	16.2	1,244	183	5
		John Sanchez	15.6	1,195	107	4
		Troy Blackwell	0.0	0	-902	3
	Submit photo	Kenny Agosto	0.0	0	0	2
		Latchmi Gopal	0.0	0	0	2
	Submit photo	Lillithe Lozano	0.0	0	0	2

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Oswald Feliz	40.6	3,247	77	Advanced (6)
		Ischia J. Bravo	21.3	1,701	87	6
		Bernadette Ferrara	13.3	1,061	77	5
		John Sanchez	13.6	1,088	65	4
		Troy Blackwell	11.3	902	59	3
	Submit photo	Kenny Agosto	0.0	0	-194	2
		Latchmi Gopal	0.0	0	-194	2
	Submit photo	Lillithe Lozano	0.0	0	-166	2

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Oswald Feliz	38.7	3,170	5	Advanced (6)
		Ischia J. Bravo	19.7	1,614	5	6
		Bernadette Ferrara	12.0	984	0	5
		John Sanchez	12.5	1,023	2	4
		Troy Blackwell	10.3	843	1	3
	Submit photo	Kenny Agosto	2.4	194	0	2
		Latchmi Gopal	2.4	194	1	2
	Submit photo	Lillithe Lozano	2.0	166	1	2

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Oswald Feliz	38.6	3,165	0	Advanced (6)
		Ischia J. Bravo	19.6	1,609	0	6
		Bernadette Ferrara	12.0	984	0	5
		John Sanchez	12.4	1,021	0	4
		Troy Blackwell	10.3	842	0	3
	Submit photo	Kenny Agosto	2.4	194	0	2
		Latchmi Gopal	2.4	193	0	2
	Submit photo	Lillithe Lozano	2.0	165	0	2
		Undeclared Write-insUndeclared write-in candidates may advance past the first round in some ranked-choice elections. If the official source reports write-in votes by candidate name, Ballotpedia displays them alongside the ballot-qualified candidates. However, if write-in votes are reported without a name, they will instead be included in the total write-in votes figure in Round 1. Please consult the official elections source for more details about unnamed write-in candidate vote totals past Round 1.	0.4	31	0

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 8,204
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Republican primary election

Republican Primary for New York City Council District 15

Select round: Round 2 Round 1

The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Ariel Rivera-Diaz in round 2 . 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.

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Ariel Rivera-Diaz	53.7	80	2	Advanced (2)
	Submit photo	Aramis Ocasio	46.3	69	3	2

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Ariel Rivera-Diaz	49.1	78	0	Advanced (2)
	Submit photo	Aramis Ocasio	41.5	66	0	2
		Undeclared Write-insUndeclared write-in candidates may advance past the first round in some ranked-choice elections. If the official source reports write-in votes by candidate name, Ballotpedia displays them alongside the ballot-qualified candidates. However, if write-in votes are reported without a name, they will instead be included in the total write-in votes figure in Round 1. Please consult the official elections source for more details about unnamed write-in candidate vote totals past Round 1.	9.4	15	0

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 159
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign themes

2021

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released December 20, 2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Troy Blackwell completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Blackwell's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a proud son of the Bronx running for City Council District 15 because the Bronx is facing four crises: covid-19, housing insecurity, lack of educational resources, and reckoning on race. As a product of public housing and title 1 public schools, these issues are personal for me. My neighbor's challenges are my challenges. Despite my circumstances growing up, I had teachers that saw potential and invested in me early on. It is because of their guidance that I became the first in my immediate family to graduate from college and went from living in the projects to working in the Obama White House. I’ve worked on criminal justice reform to hold abusive prosecutors accountable; worked with NYC agencies and helped implement participatory budgeting in the NYC council; and fought for resources for the homeless.

I am committed to raising the value of CityFHEPS voucher for those coming out of the shelter system, expanding workforce programs so we can people back to work, increase funding for evidence-based street outreach programs that help curb gun violence, and getting our students the laptops and free internet they deserve.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Housing is a human right. I want to raise the value of the CityFHEPS voucher for those coming out of the shelter system and for Area Median Income, the measure upon which rents in affordable housing are based, to be based on individual ZIP Codes rather than the regional measure that federal law now mandates
• Education is the passport out of poverty. I commit to invest in more laptops for all of our students, expand legal counsel for parents with children who need IEP services, and end school-to-prison pipeline by decreasing police presence in schools and invest more funding for counselors and social workers.
• The Bronx has been ground zero for COVID-19. The city needs to invest in a public information campaign (that includes language justice for our large immigrant population), partner with CBO's, and use mobile vaccine vans to meet people where they are.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am particularly passionate about housing justice, ending gun violence, investing in municipal broadband, and criminal justice reform.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

I remember sitting in school when the 9/11 terrorist attack happened.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for holders of this office to have previous experience in government or politics?

Yes, experience goes a long way in any decision-making role.

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

2021 Elections

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Candidate

New York City Council District 15

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