Mino Lora, an educator and executive director of the People’s Theatre Project, who is one of six candidates running for City Council in the 11th District in The Bronx, has recently been endorsed by Run for Something, CWA District 1, Jewish Vote, and NYIC Action. A special election is being held on March 23 to decide who will represent the district.

 

According to its website, Run for Something provides a safety net for new and exciting progressive candidates — at all stages of their journey — to help them run efficient, grassroots & voter-contact driven campaigns so that they do not feel alone in the process. Meanwhile, Communications Workers of America (CWA) is the largest communications and media labor union in the United States, representing about 700,000 members in both the private and public sectors.

 

The Jewish Vote is a project of Tides Advocay and sister organization of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice. According to the group’s website, it aims to “elect reformers and radicals,” and outlines how The Jewish Vote is a home for New York Jews seeking to secure a pluralistic city that works for all through the power of the Jewish vote. An extract from the website reads, “We are intellectuals, day school kids, bubbes, queers, geeks, resistance moms, carpenters, bartenders, lawyers, nurses, farmers  — deeply rooted cosmopolitans and proud members of the diaspora.”

 

New York Immigration Coalition Action (NYIC Action) is a nonprofit founded in 2007, which according to its website, aims to make sure immigrants have a seat at the table of the national comprehensive immigration reform debate.

 

Reacting to the endorsements, Lora said she was proud to be endorsed by such progressive leaders and labor because her values aligned with theirs. “They’ve been doing the hard work of making NYC more equitable,” she said. “Their support is recognition of my own work, serving thousands of students and immigrants across the city over the past two decades.”

 

According to her campaign, Lora, who was previously profiled by the Norwood News, is building broad community support, and has a fully-staffed campaign and team of volunteers who said she is vying to win the special election on March 23 to become District 11’s first Latina City Councilwoman.

 

“District 11 is majority working-class and people of color,” Lora said. “Half of us are Latino, and a third of us are immigrants. Residents want change and expect our council members to reflect the communities they’re elected to serve. We deserve a City Council that does a better job of meeting our needs, especially during this pandemic.” She added, “I’m running to bring equity and justice to the Bronx through education, healthcare, the environment and economy, and through criminal justice reform. We can build a city that works for all of us.”

 

Among other candidates across the city, including Bronx candidate in the District 14 City Council race, Adolfo Abreu, Lora previously received the endorsement of the Working Families Party on Nov. 25, 2020, and as reported by the Norwood News, she also picked up the endorsement of City Councilman and Deputy Leader Jimmy Van Bramer on Jan. 26.

 

Bramer is chair of the City Council Committee on Cultural Affairs and Libraries, co-founder of the Council’s progressive caucus, co-chair of the Council’s budget negotiating team and a candidate for Queens Borough President. Other previous endorsements include Citizen Action of New York and No IDC NY.

 

Citizen Action of New York is a self-described grassroots membership organization aiming to transform society by addressing the following issues:

• ensuring our children have a quality public education no matter their zip code;
• ending our current system of mass incarceration and establishing a new system of justice;
• ensuring quality affordable housing for all;
• fighting for guaranteed quality, affordable health care;
• taking big money out of politics by creating a fair elections system;
• aiming to dismantle the historic racist system by promoting racial justice;
• striving for a more progressive tax system to begin to end the runaway inequality in our state.

 

The Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), led by former Bronx State Sen. Jeff Klein, was a group of eight New York State senators who were elected to office as Democrats but who formed a coalition with Republicans, blocking most progressive legislation in New York State for over seven years.

 

As reported by The New York Times, in the Sept. 13, 2018 Democratic primary, after an unprecedented grassroots campaign, six IDC senators, including Klein, were defeated by progressive challengers backed by the group, No IDC NY, including State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi in New York’s 34th senatorial district who succeeded Klein.

 

Lora has also been ranked as a second-choice candidate behind Abigail Martin by NYC Kids PAC. NYC Kids PAC opposes the privatization of public schools, and advocates for the elimination of high-stakes testing and the reduction of class size and school overcrowding, among other issues. The organization advances its goals by supporting candidates for office who have demonstrated a commitment to improving New York City’s public schools.

 

Lora, who has raised the maximum $165,000 allowed for the special election through the New York City Campaign Finance Board’s public matching funds program, said, “My fundraising reflects the excitement for my candidacy! The majority of donations to my campaign are $50 or less.” She added, “I will never accept contributions from corporate PACs, the fossil fuel industry, law enforcement unions, or real estate developers.”

In accordance with the matching funds program, each dollar raised between $10 and $175 from New York City residents is matched 8 times using public funds. For the special election, the maximum payout from the matching funds program is $142,500, and spending is capped at $190,000.

 

A Woodlawn Candidate’s Forum will be held on Monday, Feb. 15, at 6 p.m. More details can be found here. A City Council Town Hall, presented by the SAR High School EPG Club, based in Riverdale in the Northwest Bronx, was held on Wednesday, Feb. 17 and can be viewed here.

 

Riverdale Nature Preservancy will also be hosting a virtual conversation with the District 11 special election candidates on Thursday, March 4 at 8 p.m. The Zoom link to join the conversation is as follows: https://tinyurl.com/RNPForum, and the Meeting ID is 852 4927 7543.