Richard Torres

Richard Torres (born September 3, 1974) is an American Politician, Lawyer, and the incumbent Representative from New York 2nd Congressional District.
Torres is the son of a laborer and a registered nurse. His family was one of the first Hispanic families tomove to Long Island in the 1960's and has lived in the community for the past 40 years.He graduated from High School in 1991, and wentto work at a Retail Store while he went to Hofstra University to earn his Bachelor's in Law. He then soon began interning for a lawyer while working to graduate University to attain his Master's.
Torres applied to many major Long Island law firms in search of work, but was not accepted, so instead he founded his own with his friend and fellow classmate, Joseph diFerrara. He became greatly involved in local county politics, eventually joining the Suffolk GOP. He ran for county legislature twice; in 2006 and eventually wining in 2008 and served for two terms unitl 2012, where he ran to represent the 2nd Congressional district, and won against his democratic opponent, Vivianne Glass, by 59% to her 42%. He successfully ran for reelection in 2014. 
Despite 2016 being a Republican wave election Richard Torres lost his seat to a challenger. His defeat was attributed to his controversial statements such as calling the Republican Senator from New Mexico an ISIS supporter. 
In 2017 Richard Torres announced his intention to run in the Special Election for Alicia Florrick's Senate seat vacated after Ms. Florrick resigned to become the Attorney General.