Nathalia Fernandez was so used to working behind the scenes. Now she’s front and center.

Fernandez secured her victory on the April 24 special election for the 80th Assembly District seat, allowing her to soundly defeat Republican challenger Gene DeFrancis, founder of the Allerton International Merchants Association. Fernandez, winning by more than 1500 to DeFrancis’s 300 (official numbers by the Board of Elections won’t be available for a few weeks) now succeeds her former boss, former Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj.

Her win automatically makes her the district legislator serving Norwood, parts of Bedford Park, Allerton, Pelham Parkway, Morris Park, and Van Nest. Fernandez’ position as Gjonaj’s chief of staff exposed her to those communities.

“I am so honored and so humbled,” said Fernandez, reading off prepared remarks. She spoke to supporters at an election night party held at Maestro’s Caterers. The gathering doubled as a victory party for Luis Sepulveda, who won his respective special election race in the southeast Bronx’s 32nd Senate District. “I’m ready to start. I’ll hit the ground running,” said Fernandez, flanked by other legislators, which also included Mayor Bill de Blasio, who came supporting Sepuvelda.

Her win makes her the first Latina to hold the seat since Naomi Rivera in 2012, lowering the ratio of women legislators to their male counterparts in office. But it also ranks her as an interim legislator, since she’s finishing a term that Gjonaj secured in November 2016 after winning the general election.

She will have to once again run in September to be the Democratic nominee heading into the November general election.

But with the Bronx overwhelmingly Democratic, securing a two-year term will be easy for Fernandez. Still, Fernandez will have to run a total of three times.

Even so, her ascension will send her to Albany and give her the advantage over other challengers on the Democratic ticket. Some names batted around as possible contenders include Sheila Sanchez.

DeFrancis was unavailable to tell the Norwood News whether he intends to run again.

The special election, while a major priority for the Bronx Democratic County Committee, came and went in Norwood.

Outside Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, Roy Diaz said voters came in and out of the center. The real action, he said, was at neighboring Tracey Towers, a major voting poll. “Most of the people from District 80 go to Tracey Towers,” said Diaz.

For Generosa Diego, another resident, her focus was bigger picture.

“I’m a Democrat. I don’t like Trump,” said Diego. “I like Hillary. He is a liar, he is a deceiver.”

Additional reporting by Martika Ornella and Niall Ridgley

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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.