Elisa Crespo

Elisa Crespo (born October 1, 1990) is an American politician and transgender activist from New York City. Crespo ran in the 2021 New York City Council election for a Bronx district that encompasses the neighborhoods of Belmont, Mount Hope, Allerton, Olinville, Van Nest, West Farms, and Bedford Park.
Early life and education.
Crespo was born in Brooklyn on October 1st, 1990 to a Puerto Rican immigrant mother. Crespo was raised by a single working class mother. Her family relied on social programs such as Section 8 and medicaid. Crespo met people from the LGBTQA+ community and began questioning her identity culminating in her transition at the age of 15. A year later, Crespo fell into sex work like many trans women of color. At 19 years old, she was diagnosed with HIV. She briefly attended college but dropped out. Her arrest in November of 2012 for sex work changed her life. She began to view politics and the various political infrastructures she encountered in a new light. At the age of 26, Crespo returned to finish her higher education. She graduated John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY) in 2019 with a Bachelor's degree in political science and government with a concentration in law, courts, politics, and human rights.
Career.
In January of 2019, Crespo interned with the Assembly Speaker, Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) until May 2019 and then interned for the New York City Council as a legislative intern until August 2019. Crespo serves as the education liaison to the Bronx Borough President, Ruben Diaz Jr. 
Crespo decided to run for the 15th district in the 2021 New York City Council election in early 2020. Crespo campaign was centered around the theme of "Jobs & Justice". Her policies are centered around criminal justice reform, education, public housing, public health, and climate change. Crespo did not want her identity as a transgender woman and the historic nature of the campaign to take away from the policies. However, during her campaign, a smear piece by the "New York Post" depicted her past involvement in sex work and inherently her identity, negatively. After the piece, various communities demonstrated support for her and the problems regarding the way trans women in politics are depicted were highlighted. Crespo was endorsed by New York City Councilmembers Helen Rosenthal, Antonio Reynoso, Ben Kallos, Jimmy Van Bramer, and Brad Lander and New York State Senators Gustavo Rivera, Julia Salazar, and Brad Hoylman. The election held in March, yielded no majority winner, Crespo ended in 4th place out of the 10 candidates with 15% of the votes. On April 6, 2021, Crespo released a statement regarding her decision to drop out of the June 2021 primary.

Wyoming has designated the area as a state historic site; a large plaque explains the details of the fight.