Around 11 p.m. after finishing his shift at a restaurant in Queens, Santiago Porras Ruiz, Fordham College at Lincoln Center ’29, sat down to write questions for a CNN town hall that he had been nominated to attend by the Queens County Young Democrats. He did not expect much to come from it. 48 hours later, Porras Ruiz’s appearance on air had gone viral.
“I came up with the three questions. I sent them in to CNN. I think, ‘They’re probably not going to take the question of a kid from Queens,’” Porras Ruiz said. “I get up at 5:40 in the morning, then I’m in my media industries class and I get a call from the studios and they’re like, ‘Hey, we saw your questions, we picked one out, we just emailed you, we really want you to ask the question.’”
Shortly after, he was on his way to CNN’s studio in Hudson Yards, preparing to speak on national television.
Porras Ruiz asked: “How is a war in a country half the world away, funded by the taxes pulled from my check, helping me in any way?”
That moment, which lasted less than a minute, would later go viral online, earning Porras Ruiz the nickname “The New York waiter.”
At first, I wanted to be a lot of things. I wanted to be an actor … and I also wanted to be a zoologist. I cared a lot about animal rights at the time so, again, it was a good balance. I didn’t wake up every day thinking. ‘I’m going to be in politics.’ Santiago Porras Ruiz, FCLC ’29
Eighteen-year-old Porras Ruiz is running for a seat on the Democratic County Committee of Queens, an official political party organization for Queens Democrats. While the position itself attracts little to no public attention, it often serves as an entry point into broader political involvement.
For Porras Ruiz, this campaign reflects his years of engagement with the political world.
Porras Ruiz grew up in College Point, Queens, an area he described as ideologically varied. Located in the northern part of the borough, College Point is represented by Republican New York City Council member Vickie Paladino but has seen a mix in demographics between left and right wing votes.
Though Porras Ruiz decided to run for office at a relatively young age, he has not always imagined that he would become a politician.
“Politics was never in the cards,” Porras Ruiz said. “At first, I wanted to be a lot of things. I wanted to be an actor … and I also wanted to be a zoologist. I cared a lot about animal rights at the time so, again, it was a good balance. I didn’t wake up every day thinking. ‘I’m going to be in politics.’”
My mother became a U.S. citizen around the 2016 election. It was her first time voting, that was a big moment. I remember she brought me to the poll site. She said, ‘The first time I get to vote for this country, it’s going to be for the first female president of the United States.’ Santiago Porras Ruiz, FCLC ’29
Porras Ruiz described the 2016 presidential election as a turning point for his investment in politics.
“When Donald Trump got elected in 2016, it was a turning point for a lot of people and that had varying degrees. Some people initially looked up, ‘How do I run for office?’ Some people started paying attention to the news. Some people started feeling the effects like I did, being a Latino, being somebody who comes from immigrant parents,” Porras Ruiz said.
At the time, his middle school science teacher worked for Saturday Night Live (SNL) and would regularly reference current events and political satire. This exposure led Porras Ruiz to question what was happening in his political environment.
“I used to watch SNL and I would always say to myself, ‘Politics cannot be this crazy.’ And then when I started listening to the joke references, like, ‘What did that actually mean? Who is this person? Why do they do this? Why do they have this cadence?’ I realized, ‘Oh, it can be, it is this crazy — but it affects me and it’s interesting,’” Porras Ruiz said.
Since then, Porras Ruiz’s political involvement has included local organizing, voter outreach and advocacy work.
“From trying to pass contraceptives in public schools, which we did do, from making sure immigrants know about their rights, doing canvasses, getting out the vote of people who don’t necessarily vote … all these actions and more,” Porras Ruiz said.
Porras Ruiz also referenced his family’s background and the United States’ broader political climate as another factor contributing to his engagement in politics.
“I didn’t come from a political family,” Porras Ruiz said. “My mother became a U.S. citizen around the 2016 election. It was her first time voting, that was a big moment. I remember she brought me to the poll site. She said, ‘The first time I get to vote for this country, it’s going to be for the first female president of the United States.’”
Porras Ruiz said his decision to run was shaped not only by national politics, but by changes he observed closer to home.
Although he has lived in College Point since early childhood, he spent much of his time growing up in Jackson Heights, a neighborhood with a large Colombian community. Having observed the contrast between the two areas, Porras Ruiz said he has become more cognizant of the political polarization of College Point, deepening his desire to serve his community. In recent years, he has noticed rising antagonism toward Latine communities.
“(In my experience) growing up, the phrase ‘Go back to Mexico’ wasn’t a thing. … ‘We speak English, we’re in America,’ that wasn’t a phrase. It has gotten so bad, the assimilation that they’re doing and the demonizing of our culture, that it has pushed young Latinos like me to not speak Spanish anymore,” Porras Ruiz said.
His family, Porras Ruiz said, all differ in their political affiliations. During the 2020 Democratic primary, members of his family voted for different candidates.
While his interests grew gradually, Porras Ruiz recalled the specific moment that pushed him from being a mere observer to getting involved: news coverage during the first Trump administration showing families being separated at the United States-Mexico border. He said the images were hard to forget.
“Even though in my family we’re all Democrats, we’re all different Democrats, so my dad really wanted Bernie Sanders, my mom really wanted Mike Bloomberg and I really wanted Elizabeth Warren,” Porras Ruiz said. “So you have that contrast of like very progressive socialist leaning to very key moderate centrist Democrats.”
While his interests grew gradually, Porras Ruiz recalled the specific moment that pushed him from being a mere observer to getting involved: news coverage during the first Trump administration showing families being separated at the United States-Mexico border. He said the images were hard to forget.
“It was hard knowing that people who looked like me, sounded like me, who came from similar backgrounds as we were (being) put into cages like animals, and that this was happening in my country in the 21st century, and that nobody’s saying anything about it.” Porras Ruiz said. “And the worst part (is that) it is normalized a lot now.”
That moment, he said, was one of the first times that politics felt personal, and it stayed with him as he began getting involved more directly.
Now, his responsibilities are divided. Between going to class at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus, working as a waiter, serving as President of the Lincoln Center Democrats (a student club) and now running for office, Porras Ruiz stays busy.
During the 2025 New York City mayoral elections, Porras Ruiz worked on former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s campaign. He described the experience as formative as it introduced him to the internal dynamics of a political campaign. He was initially drawn to Cuomo’s leadership, especially during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
“The main thing that first attracted me to Cuomo was I remembered him from the pandemic because that’s when I first got involved in politics and I was like, that man was on TV every day. He gave us the information calmly,” Porras Ruiz said. “At a time when our president was telling us to inject ourselves with bleach, he was the competent person in charge.”
Porras Ruiz said his perspective shifted after working under Cuomo, leading him to leave that position and root for Mayor Zohran Mamdani in the general election.
“The problem is … Andrew Cuomo has the ability to attract a wide type of character. He is the driest politician I’ve ever met. He has no appreciation for people who help him out, and he will do anything to win, even if it means selling out his own mother for a dollar. He’s just the embodiment of corrupt politics,” Porras Ruiz said.
Now, his responsibilities are divided. Between going to class at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus, working as a waiter, serving as President of the Lincoln Center Democrats (a student club) and now running for office, Porras Ruiz stays busy.
“I’ve been in politics for a long time, but that hasn’t isolated me from the working class because I am working class. I work every day. I’ve worked a job since I was 14,” Porras Ruiz said.
Porras Ruiz was featured on “A CNN Town Hall: War with Iran,” which aired on March 20. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz sat down with CNN Anchor Dana Bash to discuss the ongoing war in Iran. A few audience members (including Porras Ruiz) were selected beforehand to ask questions.
After the town hall aired, Porras Ruiz got recognized quickly, receiving emails from his middle and high school teachers and his advisor saying they had seen him on CNN. By the beginning of the next week, he said, it was clear how wide the clip had circulated.
“Monday was the moment I truly knew that it went viral because my English professor was having dinner with her boyfriend’s family. She goes: ‘Oh, my student was on CNN.’ His mom goes: ‘The waiter?’ (And) the guest lecturer at my anthropology class recognized me,” Porras Ruiz said.
On most nights, the day ends the same way it began for Porras Ruiz: continuing to balance school, work and preparation for the upcoming Democratic County Committee of Queens elections, which will take place on June 23.
