Mino Lora, executive director and founder of the People’s Theater Project, who finished as first runner-up in the District 11 City Council primary race on June 22, released a statement on Friday, July 9, following the publication of the latest RCV tabulation results of the primary election on Tuesday, July 6, by New York City Board of Elections (BOE), as reported.

 

“To every person who voted, volunteered, contributed and believed in our campaign—thank you! ¡Gracias! ধন্যবাদ! We couldn’t have made it this far, in such a short period of time, without you,” Lora, who was profiled by the Norwood News in 2020, said in her July 9 statement.

 

According to the latest results, which have not yet been ratified by the BOE, incumbent councilman, Eric Dinowitz, secured 61.3 percent (9,489 votes) of the vote share after the latest tabulation. The report showed first-time candidate, Lora, finishing with 38.7 percent (5,992 votes) after Round 6, and indicated that Dinowitz had won the race.

 

The theatre founder went on to say that in just 8 months, she and her supporters ran back-to-back campaigns, through a pandemic, and “the impacts of nepotism and billionaire real estate developers working to influence the election.” She said that despite those odds, their powerful grassroots campaign fought everyday to expand democracy as well as who is part of that democracy.

 

As reported, the BOE recently released an important video notice in which the agency asked New Yorkers to keep an eye out for a potential notice from the agency which explains how they can correct any invalid absentee ballots, where applicable. According to the latest (July 6) BOE report, there were 1,523 inactive ballots in the District 11 race. It is this process of curing the ballots which is now taking place before the BOE can ratify the election. Even in the unlikely event that all such ballots were to be “cured” and were to go in Lora’s favor, they would still not be enough for Lora to overtake Dinowitz in the race.

 

Lora went on to say that the campaign had communicated in three languages, went to every neighborhood, and talked with everyone they saw. “Together, we knocked on over 23,000 doors, sent almost 200,000 texts, and made over 140,000 calls,” she said. “We motivated many of our neighbors to volunteer and vote for the first time, and in the process, discovered just how many of our neighbors felt invisible until we knocked on their door. This is what makes me the most proud, and informs part of the work ahead.”

 

Lora said that in District 11, the campaign encountered too many neighbors who couldn’t vote because they were non-citizen residents, green card holders, or didn’t realize their registration status excluded them from voting. “We need to make sure all of our voices are heard, in part, by passing municipal voting rights, communicating in all the languages our neighbors speak, expanding civic education, and making it easier for all residents to vote,” she said. ” We will continue to make sure all of our elected officials recognize the impacts that inequality and racism have on our ability to thrive, recover from this crisis, and participate in our democracy.”

As reported, in June, Lora addressed questions raised over the course of her campaign about her involvement in a controversial, $200 million re-zoning plan, announced in 2018, for the Northern Manhattan district of Inwood, where the candidate’s nonprofit, the People’s Theater Project (PTP) is located.

 

She concluded by thanking all the leaders, unions and progressive groups who she said believed in her campaign, naming Congressman Jamaal Bowman, State Senators Alessandra Biaggi and Gustavo Rivera, Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou, Councilman Brad Lander and presumed winner of the city comptroller’s primary race, Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, Fordham University law professor and former political candidate, Zephyr Teachout, former Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger, Working Families Party, CWA, Unite Here Local 100, Latino Victory Fund, The Jewish Vote, and many others.

 

“We can, and must, keep doing this work with joy and excitement for what’s possible. Although I won’t be our next Councilwoman, I’m not going anywhere and neither should you!” she said. “The energy we brought to the streets was real and cannot be undone, and we will continue to work to make our home an equitable place for all of us.”