Brandon West
39th Council District - Brooklyn
Brandon has always been passionate about making our democracy work for working people. He began his career volunteering for progressive campaigns and causes at an early age.
The proud son of two union teachers, Brandon knows firsthand the real difference that organized labor makes in people’s lives — their union gave him a scholarship to help him go to college.
Brandon’s parents taught him the importance of education and that nothing changes without a fight. These values led Brandon down the path of service. After getting his undergraduate degree from Haverford College, he went on to get his Masters from NYU at the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.
For over a decade, Brandon has fought to make our government live up to the promise of “of, by, and for the people.” Immediately after college, Brandon worked on election and democracy reform policy at a local level. He believes that engaging poor and working people is vital to creating a better word, as they are the building blocks of power and make systemic change possible. Brandon worked in the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget, before transitioning to the City Council Finance Division, serving on the Education, Transportation, and Contracts Committees. During his time there, he saw that opaque processes, insulated from public input, had a tremendous, negative impact on public spending and ultimately on people’s lives.
Determined to change this, Brandon has worked to build power city block by city block in order to challenge the political machine in Brooklyn to become more transparent and accountable to the public. As previous President of the New Kings Democrats, he led a successful campaign — Rep Your Block — that got over 500 people involved and serving on Brooklyn’s County Committee, the level of the Democratic Party that is closest to the people. Under his leadership, NKD convened meetings throughout Brooklyn as part of the Vision Project, which invites Brooklyn residents to think and talk together about what would make the Democratic Party better—a party that is more reflective of our values and more effective at creating the kind of society we want.
Brandon also worked as the Campaign Manager for the Center for Popular Democracy on their national Voting Rights and Democracy program’s campaign. In this role, he protected and increased access to the ballot, strengthening the political voice of historically disadvantaged communities. He also sat on the steering committee of the Let NY Vote coalition. Brandon was a proud union member, following in the footsteps of his parents, and served as Co-chair for his local union branch, the NewsGuild-CWA.
Brandon grew up with a close connection to music and vinyl records through his father, and is a long time listener of WFMU. He can also be found trying his best at being a squad leader at the Park Slope Food Coop, a short walk from his apartment he shares with his roommates in North Slope.
Brandon has worked inside and outside of government to make it more accountable to the people. He believes that people can only be truly brought into our democracy if they have the power to ensure that their basic needs are met. Too often, freedom is defined as the ability to live without government intervention, not as the ability to live free from poverty, hunger, substandard education, or discrimination. Brandon believes that a City truly “for the people” is radically different from the one we have now, and will fight to build real power and freedom in the District from the ground up.