The political landscape in Jackson Heights, Queens, is being rebuilt.

Seats that were once filled by allies of the Queens political machine are now held by local activists and progressives who used to be on the outside looking in.

Jackson Heights is known for its food and rich Colombian culture, but is also home to influential elected officials.

The neighborhood, which is tucked in between Corona and Woodside, has seen a massive shift in a political landscape in the last 10 years as local activists and immigrants have taken the helm.

“We look like them, we have experienced the things that they’ve experienced and people can feel that,” said Queens Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz, a native Colombian who first emigrated to the United States at 9-year-old and lived as an undocumented American for more than 10 years.

The area was once represented by former Queens County Party boss and Congressman Joe Crowley, who was toppled in June 2018 by then little known community organizer and Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The neighborhood has since seen a wave of young activists take office.

There’s Cruz who upset the county’s candidate and incumbent Ari Espinal in 2018. Espinal had only held the seat a few months when she lost to Cruz after being the handpicked nominee to fill the seat amid a special election.

Then there’s Queens City Councilman Shekar Krishnan, who became one of the first South Asians elected to city government.

There’s also Queens Sen. Jessica Ramos, who in September 2018 upset incumbent Jose Peralta. Peralta was one of a handful of breakaway Democrats who held a power-sharing agreement with Republicans in the Senate.

“He actually lived in one of the buildings over there, and I live in one of the buildings over here. So we were actually neighbors throughout the race and saw each other as we used to come out in the morning to talk to neighbors and sometimes we would even cross paths here at the post office,” said Ramos, while walking around the neighborhood with NY1.

Unlike before, the class of officials in office leans more progressive and challenges the values of the traditional Democratic party.

For example, Ramos cast a vital vote in dooming the nomination of Hector LaSalle to be New York state Chief Judge.

The trio represents a realignment of values for a neighborhood that is heavily populated by immigrants and working class New Yorkers.

“Taxi workers for so long have had to struggle with a foreclosure crisis, plus a medallion crisis and have had to struggle and haven’t gotten relief from city government. Just an example of the way in which the issues of our community have not been heard,” said Krishnan.

Officials say that the actual issues of the neighborhood were long ignored.

“The importance that you give those issues has changed over the years, because there has always been overcrowding in the schools, there has always been overcrowding in the homes, there have always been high rents. The seven train has never functioned how it’s supposed to but I think with a sea change in who the electeds were, you saw a difference of who was getting priority on their issue or who was even being heard,” Cruz said in highlighting the shift in leadership in the area.

Walking around Jackson Heights with Ramos, it was easy to see how the new generation of politicians is already well known.

The Colombian-American official took NY1 to one historic corner in the neighborhood — 86th Street, which is also named Calle Colombia.

“When Colombians first arrived, a lot of activism happened precisely on this corner, my dad was a part of a lot of the efforts to win dual citizenship and to register more Colombians to vote. There was in the eighties a huge push to actually get Latinos elected to office here,” Ramos explained.

With a new generation in office, it seems that kitchen table issues like work, housing and education are seeing a resurgence as well.

“My legislation is completely focused on creating a resurgence of the middle class,” said Ramos about her ambitions as a state legislator.