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Over the sound of people shouting about the race between James Talarico and Ken Paxton, Marte told me he met Bengio 10 years ago through Arena, a New York-based political organization that took off after Trump’s first presidency. “It was all these young people trying to figure out how to get involved in politics. AOC was on the couch, Alessandra Biaggi, all these people who were just curious, after the Trump election,” he says. At the time, Bengio was working as campaign manager for Michael Basch, a techno-optimistic Democratic candidate for mayor of New York, a position he got by asking the only person he knew in politics to introduce them. He also worked as a consultant for NBA Africa and managed downtown restaurants such as Regina’s Grocery and Miss Lily’s. The Bench is one of Bengio’s four companies; He also co-founded the Shtick supper club with his wife, Jacqueline Lobel, and is a partner in the Hancock Foundation and the Hancock Café. On any given event night, he can be found milling around the room, enthusiastically facilitating his guests’ introductions.
The son of a Moroccan father and an Algerian mother, Bengio grew up in Strasbourg, France. When I ask him what motivated him to move to New York in 2001, he deadpans: “Have you ever heard of the American dream?” More specifically, however, I was jealous of a friend who moved to the United States for six months and came back speaking fluent English. “He was the coolest guy,” Bengio says. “And I thought, ‘I want to go to America, too.’ I love basketball,” he says, rearranging a stack of books so the edges line up.