Former Bernie Sanders national organizer and Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member, Latchmi Gopal, is officially running to replace Ritchie Torres in New York City’s 15th City Council district. She join Ischia Bravo, Ischia, Elisa Crespo, Oswald Feliz, John E. Sanchez, and Julian S. Sepulveda.

Gopal enters the race on the back of her experience with economic and social causes across the country as well as in the Bronx. She is currently director of communications and strategic partnerships for Unemployment Workers United, a multiracial and multigenerational movement which advocates for a new “normal” that restores dignity and guarantees a good education, quality healthcare, safety, and income security to all Americans.

According to her campaign, her previous experience includes serving on the national leadership team for By the People, an organization fighting to remove President Donald Trump from office, working to reduce student debt, fighting for a $15 minimum wage, and getting money out of politics through her work with a national economic policy think tank called Demos.

Gopal most recently served as national distributed organizer for the Bernie 2020 presidential campaign, where she created and executed a national canvassing program to mobilize thousands to vote and participate politically.

On the local level, her campaign wrote that she has advocated for better buses, fair fares, and transit justice across New York City as a lead organizer with Rider’s Alliance, and also serves on the associate board of WHEDco, a nonprofit that creates thriving family-oriented neighborhoods in the South Bronx, the nation’s poorest congressional district.

Gopal supports Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, defunding the NYPD, just and quality public education, safe and affordable Housing For All, and participatory budgeting in City Council District 15. She is running to represent CD-15 because she said many of the systemic issues she sees on a daily basis are directly caused by a lack of budgetary investment and resources that could be transformative in people’s lives, especially in Black and brown neighborhoods that are too often overlooked.

Gopal is a Bronx native, first-generation Guyanese-American and the eldest daughter of immigrants, who her campaign said taught her the value of investing in one’s community and fighting for justice.

“The people most impacted need to be the voices at the center of decision-making,” she wrote. “Our campaign  will work with grassroots groups to build a coalition in The Bronx to advocate for policies informed directly by the community. People need to be listened to, understood, and inspired to step into their power. I will fight for the betterment of those who are too often overlooked, under-resourced, and who despite all the odds still rise! Together we can build a better Bronx that works for all of us.”

Some residents had asked Norwood News in what capacity Gopal had worked for Sen. Bernie Sanders, as they were unfamiliar with her work. Gopal responded to Norwood News with the following statement.

“This past year, I was the National Distributed Organizer for the Bernie 2020 Presidential Campaign, where I created and executed a national canvassing program to mobilize thousands to vote and participate politically. My program was present in various states, including New York.

On the day of my launch various staff members of the campaign; including Claire Sandberg, Winnie Wong, Senator Nina Turner, and Jack Califano, publicly supported my announcement to run. I was born and grew up in The Bronx. I lived in the Soundview area until I was 13 when my family moved to our current home in the Belmont neighborhood on Crotona Ave, in city council District 15.

I have been ingrained in the success and future of The Bronx since I was a young adult. I’m eager to continue meeting all of my community members and together we’ll build a better Bronx for all of us.”

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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.