Yusef Salaam, who is a member of the exonerated Central Park Five, has declared victory in New York City’s Harlem District 9 race to replace resigning Kristin Richardson Jordan. The City Council’s 9th District represents almost the entirety of Central Harlem.

“What has happened on this campaign has restored my faith in knowing that I was born for this,” Salaam said during his victory speech. “I am not a seasoned politician. So, therefore, this was not politics as usual.”

Salaam, 49, was part of the “Central Park Five,” five Black and Latino teenagers who were wrongly convicted in 1990 for the rape of a white jogger in Central Park. Salaam was 14 years old at the time. In 1997, he was released from prison. The five men were exonerated in 2002. In 2014, the group received a $41 million payout from the city; Salaam received more than $7 million, Patch reported.

In the years since being released from prison and exonerated, Salaam was appointed in 2018 to the board of the Innocence Project, which is a nonprofit committed to exonerating people who have been wrongfully convicted.

Jordan announced in May she would not seek re-election, leaving candidates Assemblymember Inez Dickens, Assemblymember Taylor, and Salaam, who ran as a Democrat, campaigning for the position. Dickens was endorsed by New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the United Federation of Teachers.

Salaam won twice the number of votes as his nearest competitor, Dickens, 73, a sitting assemblywoman who formerly held the Council seat for 12 years. The other candidate in the race was Al Taylor, 65, also an assemblyman serving his sixth year in the State Legislature.

“I think this election is largely about change,” Salaam, 49, said.

Salaam was recruited as a candidate by Manhattan Democratic leader Keith L.T. Wright, The New York Times reported.

We did it! Congratulations Team Yusef Salaam! He has come from a mighty long way! From a prison cell at 15, to the city council chamber at 49!#onlyinamerica @dr_yusefsalaam pic.twitter.com/y2PKFUtFYX

— Rev. Conrad Tillard (@conradtillard) June 28, 2023

New York City Council candidate Yusef Salaam speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, May 24, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)