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Nathalia Fernandez Gets on Special Election Ballot for 80th AD

Nathalia Fernandez Gets on Special Election Ballot (Web Picture)
FERNANDEZ (CENTER) AT the Bronx Democratic County Committee’s 80th Assembly District Committee meeting where she secured the nomination for the Democratic ticket to fill the seat left vacant by her former boss, Mark Gjonaj.
Photo courtesy Bob Kappstatter

Nathalia Fernandez, the former chief of staff to then Assemblyman turned Councilman Mark Gjonaj, won support from her fellow committee members, securing a nomination for a special election for the 80th Assembly District slated for April 24. Her name on the Democratic ticket all but secures her place as the next interim Assembly member before the September Primary.

Committee members from the Bronx Democratic County Committee’s of the 80th Assembly District unanimously voted in favor of Fernandez. The vote was quick with no other challengers coming forward.

“The community will be seeing me at community meetings, I got a lot of people that have been waiting to speak to me, and so connecting back to the district,” said Fernandez shortly after getting her name on the ballot.

The 80th Assembly District covers the east-west neighborhoods of Norwood, Morris Park, Pelham Parkway, and Allerton. Gjonaj won a second term in 2016 before winning a seat as the Councilman for the 13th Council District, which slightly overlaps with the 80th Assembly District.

“She knows every square inch of the 80th Assembly District, she knows everyone in the 80th Assembly District regardless of association, organization or residency,” Gjonaj said.

Fernandez has been a rising political operative in the Bronx since working as a volunteer for Gjonaj when he first ran for the 80th Assembly District seat in 2012. She was hired as the Bronx representative for Governor Andrew Cuomo, a job she’s since resigned from to run for office. Though she’s worked within the district for five years, Fernandez

Fernandez is a virtual shoo-in for the empty seat, though she will have to once again run for the seat in the September Primary.

Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.

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