Aside from the fact that he’s running for the 33rd District Senate seat currently held by Pedro Espada Jr., here’s something you may not know about Gustavo Rivera: the guy is a huge Trekkie.

“Dude, I was a mega nerd,” said Rivera, a 34-year-old native of Puerto Rico who moved to New York in 1998 to pursue a master’s degree in political science and has been knee-deep in state politics ever since.

After picking up a slew of institutional support over the past several weeks in his bid to unseat Espada in the Democratic primary, Rivera is hitting the campaign trail hard, introducing himself to voters, many of whom have never heard of him. 

Nerdy or not, the bald, goateed Rivera is incredibly outgoing.

Out with his campaign staff recently in the Knox-Gates neighborhood near Mosholu Parkway, he effortlessly navigated conversations with a young mother, a Puerto Rican grandma and an African-American on disability who railed against President Obama, the man Rivera helped into office as a campaign field operative director.

“I run into people like that all the time,” Rivera said after his run-in with the Obama hater who eventually pledged to vote for Rivera in the primary. “We can disagree and have a conversation about it, but you have to be open to everybody and, at the end of the day, we really care about the same things.”

Those things, he said, include education, health care, tenant protections and jobs. They are all things Rivera says he will work toward if elected.

Since announcing his candidacy in May, Rivera has gone from an unknown entity in a crowded race of Espada challengers to becoming the most heavily-backed candidate in the race.

He’s received endorsements from an army of state lawmakers, unions, and other Democratic-leaning institutions, including the Working Family Party and the New Roosevelt Initiative, a privately-funded political reform group that has promised to spend $250,000 to oust Espada.

“This is serious,” Rivera said. “There’s a reason why everyone is putting so much effort [into the campaign in getting Espada out of office].”

Up until recently, much of that support has come from outside the borough, which has led to accusations from Espada that he’s an “outsider.”

But last week, former borough president and mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer and Bronx Councilman Fernando Cabrera, whose 14th District lies entirely within the 33rd Senate District, both endorsed Rivera. He’s also received endorsements from Bronx Council members Annabel Palma, Oliver Koppell and Melissa Mark-Viverito.

Espada’s name is synonymous with controversy — he’s being investigated by the Attorney General for allegedly defrauding the nonprofit health care centers he founded, he led a coup that put Albany at a standstill for more than a month last summer and he’s being sued by a Manhattan tailor for allegedly stealing $7,200 worth of suits.

But good or bad, at least people know who Espada is. More than a dozen area residents interviewed by the Norwood News had never heard of Rivera or his fellow challenger Daniel Padernacht (see page 2).

A Kingsbridge resident for the past decade and a veteran of several political campaigns, Rivera said he would be facing the same name-recognition challenges as any first-time candidate.

“This Senate district is huge,” he said.

His plan to get his name out there is simple: knock on doors and speak to as many Democratic voters in the district as possible.

But he knows it will take more than talk to win over residents who are used to being disappointed by their politicians. (Espada came into office by beating Efrain Gonzalez who is now serving a prison sentence for fraud.)

“You win your argument through action, not words,” said Rivera. “The main thing I tell people is that I want to work for you and I want you to hold me accountable.” 

And if he wins the Sept. 14 primary, Rivera, the self-professed “mega nerd,” said he might take a couple of hours to spend with his long-neglected Xbox.