The Rivera family had good reason to celebrate on Sept. 14: Assemblyman Jose Rivera and his daughter, Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera, both came out victorious in their Democratic primary races against two challengers in their respective districts. 

Jose Rivera, who has held his seat in the 78th District since 2000 and was once head of the Bronx Democratic Party, was challenged by Sergio Villaverde, an attorney and former cop. Rivera came out ahead, defeating Villaverde with just over 75 percent of the votes.

Rivera said he is looking forward to another potential term and that he plans to sit down with the other elected officials in his district, Councilman Fernando Cabrera and likely senator Gustavo Rivera to figure out how to best represent the Bronx.

“We got elected to provide leadership, and that’s what we have to do,” Rivera said. “The future doesn’t look too bright. We have a governor that made some damaging and hurtful cuts in our budget, and I don’t know what to expect.”

As for the other Rivera, Naomi beat out political newcomer Robert Giuffre in the 80th Assembly District, scoring 68 percent of the votes there.

Both challengers to the Riveras say the experience highlighted just how hard it is for an outsider to make it into office.

“We were certainly not pleased with the outcome, that’s for sure,” Villaverde said in a phone interview. “Hopefully this doesn’t discourage other people from getting involved in the process. Incumbents are tough to beat, but that doesn’t mean people should not run. It makes for a better democracy to have more people in the race.”

Villaverde said he plans to continue his work as an attorney, as well as with his church and local community board. He’ll also pick up where he left off as a lieutenant commander in the Coast Guard Reserve, from which he took a leave for two months to wage his campaign against Rivera. 

Giuffre, who had his petitions to originally get on the ballot challenged by Naomi Rivera in court, said the experience left him slightly jaded.

“Here we are, normal people thinking we have democracy, but realizing we only kind of sort of have a democracy,” Giuffre said. “But I think that for the amount of money I had, and for the amount of staff I had, it was a pretty good showing.” 

“I feel like I sort of accomplished what I wanted,” he continued. “I got the votes of anyone who was following this race closely. She got the votes of people who just vote for incumbents blindly.”
Naomi Rivera didn’t return calls for comment by press time.