Erik Bottcher, the out chief of staff to New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, announced on Monday that he's running for Johnson's City Council seat in 2021. Johnson's district covers a major portion of the west side of Manhattan including Chelsea, Hell's Kitchen, the theatre district, and historic Greenwich Village. Johnson, who is terming out, is seen as a top mayoral hopeful.
A profile in THE CITY details Bottcher's rise from a suicidal gay teen from a small Adirondacks town to a real estate agent and volunteer at LGBTQ groups in the city like Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), to an LGBT liaison for Governor Andrew Cuomo. Bottcher has served as chief of staff for Johnson since 2015.
Johnson told THE CITY “he is ‘100%' backing Bottcher's Council candidacy, describing Bottcher as his ‘point person' on initiatives like keeping the Hartley House, a longtime social-service nonprofit, from losing its Hell's Kitchen location.”
Check out more of Bottcher's profile at THE CITY.
