Jonathan Rinaldi

Rinaldi was born in New York, and Ballotpedia lists his profession as consultant. In a 2024 Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey, he described himself as having a background in architecture.[4] In 2023 he was the Republican-line candidate for New York City Council District 24, losing to incumbent James Gennaro with 23.4% of the vote.[4] In 2024 he ran for Assembly District 28 on the Republican, We the People and Truth lines, losing to Andrew Hevesi 58.6% to 41.1%. Ballotpedia also lists him as a Republican candidate for U.S. House in New York's 14th District in 2024 who withdrew before the primary.[4]

Rinaldi ran for City Council District 29 in 2025 as the Republican nominee, losing to incumbent Lynn Schulman with 27.3% of the vote.[4] In 2026, according to the Queens Daily Eagle, he switched from the Republican to the Democratic Party to challenge Hevesi and lost the June 23 Democratic primary; he was on the November ballot on the No Kings Party line.[2][1] On June 24, 2026, he was arraigned on nearly 20 criminal counts that prosecutors said related to AI-generated campaign material in his 2025 City Council run. He told reporters he would not confirm or deny making the posts and that the case raised a First Amendment issue.[2] He received 5.8% of the vote to Andrew Hevesi's 89.4%, according to unofficial results reported by Ballotpedia and Wikipedia.[1][3]