The Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), led by former Bronx State Sen. Jeff Klein, was a group of eight New York State senators who were elected to office as Democrats but who formed a coalition with Republicans, blocking most progressive legislation in New York State for over seven years.

 

As reported by The New York Times, in the Sept. 13, 2018 Democratic primary, after an unprecedented grassroots campaign, six IDC senators, including Klein, were defeated by progressive challengers backed by the group, No IDC NY, including State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi in New York’s 34th senatorial district who succeeded Klein.

Meanwhile, the mission of the Tenants PAC, as one might imagine, is to give a strong public voice to tenants and make them a viable electoral force. Sister Diaspora for Liberation is a collective of “womxn” activists of the African, Asian, and Indigenous diaspora that have shared experiences and struggles. The Black Lives Caucus is a bipartisan political action committee focused on bringing about positive change in our society through the democratic process.

 

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

 

These are Kenny Agosto, district director to New York State Senator Jamaal T. Bailey, Ischia Bravo, District Manager for Bronx Community Board 7, 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 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.