District manager for Bronx Community District 7 (CB7) and Democratic candidate in the 15th City Council District race, Ischia Bravo, has secured the support of several major labor unions with just weeks before the special election is due to be held on March 23. Bravo is running to fill the seat of former Councilman and now Congressman, Ritchie Torres, who was elected to Congress in November 2020.

 

Bravo has secured the support of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), the Laundry, Distribution and Food Service Joint Board, Workers United, SEIU; District Council 37, AFSCME; and District Council 9 New York IUPAT, Painters and Allied Trades.

 

The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) represents 100,000 members throughout the United States, and is affiliated with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). The union played a pivotal role in the development and passing of the “Fair Wages for New Yorkers” Act, the nation’s first significant “living wage” bill, in 2012.

 

RWDSU president, Stuart Appelbaum said Bravo has a long record of service and leadership in her local community. “She’ll be a fighter for the Bronx and the many RWDSU members who live in her district,” he said. “We can count on her to be a voice for workers in the city council.”

 

Meanwhile, District Council 37, AFSCME, is New York City’s largest public employee union, with 125,000 members and 50,000 retirees. DC 37 members include over 1,000 job titles – everything from accountants to zookeepers. Henry Garrido is the executive director of the union and said that workers answered the call when New Yorkers needed them most and now elected officials must answer theirs. “Ischia understands that, and is committed to putting working people first,” he said. “That’s why we’re proud to endorse her.”

 

The New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) is a union of 42,000 frontline nurses who advocate for their practice, safe staffing, and healthcare for all. They are New York’s largest union and professional association for registered nurses.

 

The Laundry, Distribution and Food Service Joint Board, Workers United, SEIU represents members in the private and public sector in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The union represents more than 8,500 members across the region.

 

District Council 9 of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) is an organization of painters, decorators, wall coverers, drywall finishers, sign painters, metal polishers, bridge and structural steel painters, civil service painters, lead abatement workers, glaziers and architectural metal glassworkers, paint makers, and allied tradesmen. The union represents more than 11,000 members across the region.

 

Joe Azzopardi is business manager and secretary treasurer of DC9 Painters and Allied Trades. He described Bravo as a lifelong Bronx native and community advocate who is determined to improve the quality of life for every resident in District 15. “We’re proud to endorse her in the upcoming Special Election for New York City Council District 15,” he said.

 

Reacting to the endorsements, Bravo said she was honored that so much organized labor was joining her movement to bring change to City Hall. “The path to economic security runs through labor, and I look forward to working with the working men and women of our city’s labor unions to ensure that the rebuilding process of New York City post-COVID works for everyone,” she said.

 

As reported by the Norwood News, Bravo was recently endorsed by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., in addition to prior endorsements by State Senators Jessica Ramos and Alessandra Biaggi, the latter representing parts of the Bronx and Westchester.

 

Bravo has also been endorsed by the Northwest Bronx Democrats, United Federation of Teachers, the New York City Central Labor Council, Assembly Member Nathalia Fernández, who represents the 80th Assembly District and who is currently running for Bronx borough president, as well as by Assembly Member Catalina Cruz, City Council Member Diana Ayala, civil rights leaders Tamika Mallory and Kirsten John Foy.

 

She has also received the backing of 21 in ’21, a group that advocates for at least 21 women to hold elected office at New York City Council by 2021, as well as Vote Mama, which supports Democratic moms with young children running for office up and down the ballot and across the country.

 

In addition to Bravo, according to the New York City Board of Elections and Ballotopedia, nine other candidates are running in District 15.

 

These are Kenny Agosto, district director to New York State Senator Jamaal T. Bailey, Elisa Crespo, education liaison at the Bronx borough president’s office, Oswald Feliz, tenant lawyer and adjunct professor at Hostos Community College, Bernadette Ferrara, president of the Van Nest Neighborhood Alliance, Latchmi Gopal, a community organizer and former staffer for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, Jose Padilla, former Independence candidate for both the New York State Assembly and the New York State Senate, Arial Rivera-Diaz, a former finance clerk with the City’s Board of Elections and former official at the Republican National Hispanic Assembly, Community Board 6 District Manager, John Sanchez, and Altagracia Soldevilla, another community organizer.

 

As reported by the Norwood News, in terms of campaign contributions raised to date, according to the latest CFB figures filed last month by candidates in the race, Sanchez leads with $56,649, followed by Crespo with $37,743, Bravo with $36,216, Feliz with $32,272, Gopal with $17,805, Altagracia with $7,182 and Agosto with $1,175. No information was available for Ferrera, Padilla or Rivera-Diaz.

 

Candidates were required to gather a minimum number of signatures from local residents in order to qualify for the ballot in the special election which is due to take place on March 23. As reported by the Norwood News, that minimum had been 450 signatures until Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Jan. 7 that he was reducing it to 315.

 

A Board of Elections public hearing was held on Feb. 4 to assess which candidates had collated the minimum number of signatures needed to proceed. Troy Blackwell, a former White House and Obama administration aide and who, apparently, has not made the ballot had raised $5,152, and Lilithe L. Lozano, a former district chair of NYCHA’s Bronx North council, who, apparently, has not made the ballot either had raised $1,236. Julian Sepulveda, an official at the Department of Education, suspended his campaign in November and endorsed Crespo.

 

Some candidates had previously raised concerns during prior weeks about the impact on people’s health of the signature collection process, and had called for for the signature requirement to be waived amid fears of exacerbating the spread of the coronavirus through mass person-to-person contact.

 

Two candidates in the District 11 City Council race for which a special election is also being held on March 23, Mino Lora and Jessica Haller, announced at different points that they had both previously contracted the coronavirus. Meanwhile, as also reported previously by the Norwood News, Marcos Sierra and Abigail Martin have withdrawn from that District 11 special election, both citing health risk concerns associated with the virus, though both have said they plan to participate in the June primary.

 

District 15 includes the neighborhoods of Belmont, Crotona Park, Fordham, Van Nest, and part of Bedford Park. A candidate’s forum with six of the ten candidates in the District 15 special election race was held on Saturday, Feb. 13, hosted by Little Africa Bronx News, a “Social Impact Strategies” project, an intersection of community relations, issue advocacy and public policy. The forum can be viewed here. Mona Davids, founder and publisher, issued a Facebook statement following the event, explaining that only viable candidates had been invited to participate in the forum.

 

The nonpartisan special election in District 15 is the first of two elections in the Bronx which will incorporate the new method of Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), the other being the District 11 City Council special election.

 

RCV is a voting method whereby voters can rank up to five candidates in order of preference, instead of choosing just one. If a candidate receives more than 50 percent of first-choice votes, that candidate is the winner. If no candidate earns more than 50 percent of first-choice votes, then counting will continue in rounds. At the end of each round, the candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated.

 

If a voter ranked the eliminated candidate first, then the next highest ranked candidate on the voter’s ballot will be taken into account in the next round of counting. The process continues as such until there are two candidates left. The candidate with the most votes wins. For official information on ranked choice voting, go to the NYC Campaign Finance Board FAQ page or the New York City Board of Elections website.

 

The Bronx Democratic Party also recently hosted an informational session on Ranked Choice Voting which can be viewed here in conjunction with the group, Rank the Vote NYC. Norwood News checked with the City’s Campaign Finance Board about the expertise of Rank the Vote NYC and were advised that the group is a reputable source on the topic and is a voter education campaign that is run by Common Cause NY.

 

Early Voting Hours

Saturday	March 13, 2021	10:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Sunday	March 14, 2021	10:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Monday	March 15, 2021	7:00 AM to 3:00 PM
Tuesday	March 16, 2021	12:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Wednesday	March 17, 2021	12:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Thursday	March 18, 2021	10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Friday	March 19, 2021	7:00 AM to 3:00 PM
Saturday	March 20, 2021	10:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Sunday	March 21, 2021	10:00 AM to 4:00 PM

 

The Bronx Board of Elections confirmed that it is now accepting applications for absentee ballots from voters in District 15 (and in District 11) who wish to vote by mail. Further information can be found here or by calling the Bronx Board of Elections at (718) 299-9017 and selecting Ext. 1875. Polls are open on election day from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Early Voting Period is from March 13, 2021 to March 21, 2021. Voters must vote at their assigned early voting site.

 

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story described the candidate, José Padilla, as a former judge of the New York City Civil Court. The information was based on the candidate description listed for the New York City District 15 City Council race set for March 23, 2021 on Ballotpedia. We contacted Ballotpedia on Feb. 19, to clarify the description when it was brought to our attention by a resident, and on March 4, a Ballotpedia representative emailed us to confirm they had made an error with the original candidate description and have now updated it to the following:

José Padilla (Safe & Stable) is running in a special election to the New York City Council to represent District 15. He is on the ballot in the special general election on March 23, 2021.

Padilla was a 2014 Independence candidate for District 33 of the New York State Senate. He also ran as a 2012 Independence  candidate for District 79 of the New York State Assembly.

We thank the resident in question for bringing this to our attention.