Michael Alexander Blake (born December 25, 1982) is the Assemblyman for the 79th District of the New York State Assembly. Michael's district includes parts of the Bronx, New York neighborhoods, Concourse Village, Morrisania, Melrose, Belmont, Claremont and East Tremont.

Michael Alexander Blake was born December 25, 1982 at North Central Bronx Hospital with a heart murmur.

Michael was named after two historic Jamaican public servants, Michael Manley and Alexander Bustamante, Blake was raised in Bronx, New York and continues to live a life rooted in the foundation of faith, politics and putting his heart and soul into all opportunities.

Michael attended P.S.

79 an impoverished New York City elementary school, which was featured in Jonathan Kozol’s Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools. He later graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

Michael Blake ran for the position of Assembly member for the 79th District of the New York State Assembly in 2014.

The election was called after the Assemblyman at the time Eric Stevenson was found guilty on corruption charges, and was required to vacate his seat.

As a result, Blake entered the race to replace him.

His own candidacy was not without controversy, and The Bronx Democratic Party, who did not support his candidacy, tried to state he was not actually a resident of The Bronx.

Despite the setbacks, Blake won the Democratic primary over five other candidates.

He easily won the general election with nearly 92% of the vote.

Blake was sworn-in for his first term on January 1, 2015.

He currently serves as the Chair of the Subcommittee on Mitchell-Lama.

Michael Blake was grabbed and slammed into a gate by a NYPD officer at a public housing complex in New York, New York at about 3:30 p.m July 30, 2016.

Michael filed a formal complaint however NYPD Chief William Bratton refused to apologize for the incident.

Bratton said “There will be no apology forthcoming from me, but we’ll see where the investigation goes.”

Blake has since spoken by phone New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, apologized for the incident and said it shouldn't happen to officials or anyone else.

Michael had said of the incident “It’s difficult going back to the community and trying to (bring) peace and understanding between the community and the police when your community is seeing what's happening even to elected officials."

The incident occurred when Michael Blake attending a family event at the Gouverneur Morris Houses at East 169th Street and Washington Avenue, he saw a woman in handcuffs and approached the officers involved to discuss the situation.

The cop later apologized to Blake before telling him he saw him as a threat to his partner, then added that he'd do the same thing again if the situation arose.

Michael is also the Founding Principal of Atlas Strategy Group, which focuses on political and economic empowerment for communities of color.

Michael is an Exhorter in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and a Certified Lay Speaker in the United Methodist Church.

Michael recently served as the Director of Public Policy & External Affairs for Green for All, a national organization working to build an inclusive green economy and lift people out of poverty. Michael was also the Senior Advisor for Operation Hope, the best-in-class provider of financial literacy empowerment for youth, financial capability for communities, and ultimately, financial dignity for all. In 2013, Michael served as the Campaign Manager for Reshma Saujani for New York City Public Advocate.

While an Associate Producer in Chicago, Illinois in 2005, he interned twice a week for former State Senator Jeff Schoenberg (D – Evanston, Illinois).

Blake first met Barack Obama in 2006 when he joined the Obama organization as a participant in the “Yes We Can” political training program, which trained ten young Americans to run and execute a political campaign. Blake maintains that Obama was the same caring, intellectual and transformational individual at their first meeting that he is today as President and encouraged him to think beyond his present circumstance saying, “Michael, dream big dreams.” The dreams began to be realized when the Obama team sent Michael to Michigan to manage his first races.

In 2006, Michael Blake co-organized three state house campaigns in that election cycle and was promoted to become the Director of External Affairs for the Michigan House of Representatives serving in Michigan Speaker of the House Andy Dillon's cabinet.

In early 2007, following the inspiring launch of President Obama’s campaign in Springfield, Illinois, Michael was motivated to elect the first African-American President and left Michigan to join the presidential campaign in the ever so critical first step of the election process: the Iowa Caucuses.

Michael served as the Iowa Deputy Political Director and Constituency Outreach Director for the Iowa caucuses.

Shortly before the Iowa caucuses, a 2007 TIME Magazine article said, “Michael Blake may have more to do with Barack Obama's chances of becoming President than anyone besides the candidate himself.” Blake humbly disagrees. After the success of Iowa, Michael went to work in seven additional states concluding as the Michigan Deputy State Director/Political Director for the general election where all seven state campaigns of coordinated focus won.

Following the campaign, Blake was named the Director of National Labor Outreach for the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee.

Once completing that national assignment, he joined the White House staff as Associate Director of Public Engagement & Deputy Associate Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, coordinating African American, Minority Business and county and statewide elected official outreach.

He created the White House Urban Entrepreneurship Summit series, which sought to foster public, private and not-for-profit partnerships and provide strategic advice to attendees.

Blake left the The White House to serve as the National Deputy Director of Operation Vote for President Obama’s 2012 re-election, the constituency outreach program for the Obama for America campaign and helped expand the diverse electorate who voted for President Obama including greater African American, Latino, women, youth, veteran, LGBT and Asian American participation. Following that successful tenure, Michael served as the Senior Advisor for the Office of Public Engagement for President Obama’s 2013 Presidential Inaugural Committee.

Blake was honored as one of “The Root 100” in 2012, featured in Jet magazine as one of 15 black politicos behind President Obama’s re-election and recognized by MSNBC in 2011 as one of the Top 10 Black Politicians on the rise.