On a tour of her office, Virginia Maloney drew the attention of JNS to a map on the wall, where she pointed out the district on Manhattan’s Upper East Side that she represents in the New York City Council. She was also raised in that neighborhood.
“I grew up in a proud Zionist household,” the Democrat told JNS.
Maloney is not Jewish, but Jewish life was a familiar part of her upbringing. She grew up with Jewish friends, who invited her for Shabbat dinners, and she attended more bat mitzvah celebrations than she can count.
Her connection to the Jewish community also extends to Israel. Maloney traveled there several times with her mother—a former congresswoman—on official delegations, and those experiences helped her shape her connection to Jews and the Jewish state, she told JNS.
Maloney was inspired to enter public service by her mother, Carolyn Maloney, a former Democratic congresswoman who represented New York for decades.
Her mother’s example helped shape her understanding of the responsibility that comes with representing a community, she told JNS. “It’s not about what you say. It’s about what you do,” she said.
Her mother also championed Jewish causes, including Holocaust education, she said.
Before entering elected office, Maloney was a product manager at Facebook and its parent company Meta, and worked as a consultant at Deloitte. She also served as a senior project manager for media and emerging technology at the city’s Economic Development Corporation.
She holds an undergraduate degree from Princeton University, an M.B.A. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a master’s in public administration from Harvard University. She was an intern on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
On the City Council, one of her focuses is fighting Jew-hatred.
“Antisemitism is not a Jewish problem,” she told JNS in her office. “It’s a New York problem. It’s everyone’s problem.”
Maloney is a member of the council’s bipartisan Jew-hatred task force. She told JNS that she secured funding for Jewish organizations and sponsored legislation requiring the city to help religious institutions prepare for emergencies.
“Words are important,” she told JNS. “But what’s more important is what you do with it.”
Maloney said that the city secured $700,000 for Jewish organizations this year, including $545,000 for the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
The council’s fourth district, which Maloney represents, includes Midtown East and other Manhattan neighborhoods.
She told JNS that her connection to the neighborhood and its Jewish communities has shaped her approach to representing a district with diverse residents, businesses and religious institutions.
One of her legislative achievements, she told JNS, was Local Law 85 of 2026, which she sponsored and which requires the New York City Police Department to help religious and nonprofit institutions establish and maintain emergency plans.
Those plans can include identifying safety risks, responding to threats of violence and evacuating buildings safely.
The council approved the measure in March, it became law in April and it took effect on July 1.
Maloney’s focus on safety extends beyond protecting religious institutions. She told JNS that it has been a challenge to regulate e-bikes in the city, balancing the convenience of rapid delivery services with pedestrian safety.”
“Everybody wants a pizza within 20 minutes delivered to their doorstep but are then surprised when they’re almost hit by an e-bike,” she told JNS.
Maloney said that 23 council bills address e-bike regulation, reflecting a broader debate about how the Big Apple can accommodate delivery workers and new transportation technology while keeping sidewalks and streets safe.
Public safety is one part of the wider set of issues that she hopes to address in office. Maloney wants New York City to “be the best place for people to live, to work, to start a business and to raise a family.”
Her priorities also include mental health services, housing affordability and economic development.
In September, Maloney announced a $25.6 million council capital investment to modernize adult inpatient psychiatric services at Bellevue Hospital and add 40 psychiatric beds. The investment was her top capital priority in her first city budget.
Housing affordability is another focus. Maloney proposed the Shared Housing Act, which would make it easier to convert certain office buildings into shared housing. The proposal seeks to expand housing options amid New York’s high costs and changing demand for office space.
As chair of the council’s economics committee, Maloney brings her government and technology experience to questions about the city’s economic future.
Before joining the council, she worked in economic development for the city, helping expand free, public Wi-Fi and fiber infrastructure and running programs that support small businesses, attract technical talent and strengthen the city’s workforce.
She also consulted for the federal government on projects including high-speed rail, telecommunications infrastructure and health care, she told JNS.
Her technology experience has also shaped her interest in how innovation can improve people’s lives, and her government work has given her experience navigating the practical challenges of delivering city services, she said.
Maloney’s connection to New York also informs her view of what makes the city worth fighting for. “Every corner of New York has a memory,” she told JNS.
For Maloney, an elected role is not just about expressing support for causes but helping turn that support into practical results for those whom she represents.
Combating Jew-hatred is part of that responsibility, she said.
