The race to replace Councilman Andrew Cohen in the 11^th City Council District has widened in recent months with Mino Lora making her announcement to run on Oct. 9. Lora said her platform is focused on justice for all: racial justice, justice for immigrants, health, economic, housing, education and cultural justice, as well as criminal justice reform.

 

Announcing her candidacy via a press release, Lora said in October, “We are a community of dreamers and doers who make the Bronx home, and keep this city running.” She added, “This campaign is fueled by our joy, our pain, and our passion.”

 

After a month of campaigning, she followed up with a 48-second video message on Nov. 3, in which she spoke to the harsh impact of COVID-19 on the community. “This pandemic continues to make clear who actually rises to the occasion in times of crisis – it’s us, the people,” she said. “We are a community of dreamers and doers, and we keep this city running.”

 

She continued, “I’m a Latina immigrant. This is not a unique experience in District 11, and it’s precisely why we need our voices heard. This campaign is fueled by our joy, our pain, and our passion. With me, as your councilwoman, this is the fire we’ll bring to City Hall.” In an interview with the Norwood News, Lora, 39, appeared enthusiastic and upbeat about her candidacy. “It’s the first time [I’m] running for office but not the first time fighting for my community,” she said.

 

Indeed, at the age of 15, Lora lived through Hurricane George when it hit the Dominican Republic in 1998. She said hundreds died and thousands more lost their livelihoods. Speaking at a recent campaign event, she said the experience taught her something fundamental about herself.

 

“In moments of crisis, I take action,” she said, adding that at that time she organized a food and clothing drive for as many families as she could, and wrote op-eds for the national paper to raise awareness about the hurricane’s impact.

 

Years later, when COVID hit New York, Lora saw similarities with her previous experience. Speaking at a recent campaign event, she said she organized fund raisers, hand-delivered cash to families in need, and connected undocumented families with her, by then, well-established support network for additional support.

 

At 19, Lora migrated to the U.S. to study at Manhattanville College in upstate New York. After receiving an undergraduate degree in English Literature & Theatre, she went on to earn a master’s degree in Peace Studies & Conflict Transformation from The Graduate Institute in Connecticut.

 

Much of the fighting for her community that Lora referenced has been through her work as a theater educator. Based on her belief that theatre-making is an act of joyful resistance, in 2009, with just $400, she founded the People’s Theatre Project (PTP), a social justice arts organization. Today, the nonprofit operates with a $1 million budget and employs a staff of 30.

 

During a recent campaign event, Lora said the idea for the project started during the 2008 recession, and the $400 she used to launch it, she had saved from waiting tables. She said the project now serves more than 1,000 young people a year. Its touring company, comprised entirely of immigrant artists of color, creates multidisciplinary, ensemble-based theatre to amplify and humanize the immigrant experience in the United States.

 

The project also provides English literacy programs, among other initiatives, and in addition to teaching in New York City, Lora said her work has also brought her to South Africa, and to the Dominican Republic with the Obama State Department.

 

Despite the economic downturn, she said she committed to keeping her staff employed, and got to work telling the community’s stories of hope and resistance through the pandemic. In her capacity as PTP executive director, she serves on leadership councils at the New York Immigrant Coalition and at the Northern Manhattan Agenda, where she said she advocates for immigrant and student rights at a local, state and federal level.

 

Her prior experience with fundraising in the arts has helped her launch her candidacy for City Council. She now has the support of 200 donors, and more than $17,000 in contributions. With city matching funds, she expects to exceed $100,000 in initial campaign fundraising. She is not accepting any contributions from corporate PACs, the fossil fuel industry, law enforcement unions or real estate developers.

 

Lora was joined in the race, in early November, by the latest candidate to declare a run, retired NYPD detective, Carlton Berkley, Also running are teacher and Bronx Democratic male district leader in the 81st Assembly District, Eric Dinowitz, whose father, Jeffrey Dinowitz is State Assemblyman for that district, environmentalist and entrepreneur, Jessica Haller, adjunct professor and social worker, Abigail Martin, lawyer and CB8 committee chair, Dan Padernacht, and Bronx Democratic male district leader in the 80th Assembly District, Marcos Sierra. Dionel Then dropped out of the race in August, endorsing Dan Padernacht as he did so.

 

Like all City Council members, Cohen is term-limited, and his final term was due to end next June. In August, he was nominated by the Bronx Democratic Party for a Bronx Supreme Court judgeship. He won the seat in the November general election and is scheduled to be sworn in next January.

 

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has yet to announce a date for an 11^th District special election to replace Cohen, but it is expected to be in February or March 2021. The winner would serve the remaining months of Cohen’s term before running as the incumbent in the Democratic primary next June.

 

Some Democrats have been critical of Eric Dinowitz’s candidacy, the inference being he may receive preferential treatment from the powerful Bronx Democratic Party, in part because of his father’s influence as a long-time assemblyman, and because the early special election, triggered by Cohen’s judgeship nomination, will likely favor candidates with name recognition.

 

For his part, Assemblyman Dinowitz told the Norwood News in August that neither he, Cohen nor Eric Dinowitz voted on Cohen’s nomination. Through the first half of 2020, Eric Dinowitz has raised $73,550 from 311 individual donors and is considered by some as the front-runner, based on successful campaign funding, and given both he and Padernacht have been campaigning since 2018.

 

For her part, Lora appears undaunted by her opponents’ head starts. She cites imagination and creativity as important qualities in an elected official. “Imagination is an activist tool,” she said. “It’s “super poderoso,” (super powerful) to imagine something new.”Lora sees District 11 as rich in religion, race, and class. By emphasizing equity in education, she hopes the Northwest Bronx can set an example. “We have an opportunity in District 11 to model what community building can look like,” Lora said. “We can be a model for the rest of the city, [the] rest of the state.”

 

Speaking at a recent campaign event, Lora said she lives in the district with her husband and her two kids. “Running for office was not part of my plan but I come to everything in life by asking, ‘Where am I needed?’” she said. The killing of George Floyd, an African American, by a white policeman in Minneapolis last May proved to be a crucial event for Lora, spurring her decision to run for elected office. “The pain of that moment, seeing the pain of my students was a defining moment for me,” she said, recalling the fervor that resonated around the world in the aftermath of Floyd’s death.

 

In a later press release, Lora said because systemic oppression and racism are built into every layer of society, that is why the community “needs to elect bold leaders, unafraid to take them [oppression and racism] out at the root.” Following the victory of President-Elect, Joe Biden, she said, “When we put people first, we win,” adding that the celebration and hope seen in the streets after the win was exactly what people needed.

 

She said the community deserves to live with dignity and joy. “It’s the same energy we’ll use to name and take on the challenges ahead of us here in the Bronx and New York City, especially when it comes to rebuilding after this pandemic.”

 

 

*Síle Moloney provided additional reporting.