Former Democratic U.S. President Barack Obama once famously said during a campaign rally, “Do not boo… Vote!” This was essentially the message shared at Downey’s Bar in Riverdale on Sunday, Feb. 1, as three Unity Democratic Club candidates seeking election in the upcoming Democratic primaries in Assembly District 81 made their respective pitches to around 80 local Bronxites.

 

The event, also a fundraiser for the reelection of State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (S.D. 33) and District Leader Abigail Martin (A.D. 81), was also sponsored by Rivera and Martin. Former Unity Democratic Club president and co-founder, Betsey Knapp, and Bereket Ghebredmedhin announced they are running for State Committee, while Izaiah Zeet Barrow, co-founder of the nonprofit, Theory 9, announced his candidacy as district leader, in addition to Martin. A.D. 81 broadly covers Kingsbridge, Van Cortlandt Village, Norwood, Marble Hill, Spuyten Duyvil, Riverdale, Woodlawn and Wakefield.

 

Martin, a former social worker, explained that what she learned from running, unsuccessfully, for Council District 11 in 2021 was that only 20 percent of registered Democrats regularly show up to vote in Democratic primaries in The Bronx. As reported, the NAACP has long been highlighting that low voter turnout is a problem, especially in non-presidential elections. “The consequence of that is the same folks who show up to vote are the folks who get the attention of the electeds that they put into office, and the other folks don’t get that same level of care and attention,” Martin said.

 

“It’s a cycle,” she added. ‘It happens over and over, year after year.” She said she ran for district leader in 2022 to address such voter apathy, to engage with residents and help explain to them why voting matters and how it impacts their lives.

Martin explained that district leaders are volunteers who broadly act as liaisons between the community and Bronx County Democrats to staff the NYC Board of Elections, “work on how elections work, and then you can sort of do whatever you want with it.” She said many district leaders were members of local Democratic clubs like the Unity Democrats, which Martin co-founded with Knapp in 2022, adding that it was now one of the most active clubs in The Bronx.

 

She went on to explain that State Committee representatives were also volunteers who work with the New York State Democrats and vote on resolutions that tell the State Democratic Party what to focus on for that year. “It’s a really important role,” Martin said. She added that they also use their position to amplify issues important to the community and can serve on committees for certain issues.

 

Each assembly district typically has two state committee people and two district leaders. Currently, in addition to Martin, Ben Jackson of the Ben Franklin Reform Democratic Club, based in Kingsbridge, is the other incumbent district leader in A.D. 81, while the two incumbent state committee people are Johanna Brujan Edmondson and Michael Heller, also members of the Ben Franklin Reform Democratic Club.

 

During his address, Barrow, a self-described husband, father of two, son, younger brother, entrepreneur, third-generation floorman, pillar of his community and lifelong Bronxite, thanked everyone for “standing for the future of the community.” He continued in part, “I know the streets, I know the people, and I know the community because it raised me. Who I was was a young man learning how to survive, who I am is a man committed to service, who I am becoming is a leader, ready to fight strategically, consistently, and with integrity for this district.”

 

Barrow, also a Unity Democrat, said in part that through Theory 9, he has developed pathways for young people to build trade skills and certification, job readiness and access to opportunity. He said the nonprofit also works with schools, elders, food pantries and more, and added that the community deserved someone who would fight for them and would not forget who they represented.

Barrow said he and the slate would push “for progressive change that’s practical, accountable, and rooted in real community needs.” He said the district needed stronger communication, opportunities for youth, support for working families, small businesses, community safety built on trust, accountability and access to leadership. Barrow said he would not compromise his integrity, accessibility nor his commitment to every resident “Black, White, Hispanic, rich, poor, Democrat, Republican, young or old.” He said unity was not about agreeing on everything but about fairness and respect for everyone.

 

For her part, Knapp, a mother of two sons, said she wanted to be a strong and positive role model for her boys and spoke about phone banking for a year for former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2015. In 2016, she cofounded Northwest Bronx Indivisible, “a grassroots movement of thousands of local ‘Indivisible’ groups with a mission to elect progressive leaders, rebuild our democracy, and defeat the Trump agenda,” according to its website.

 

From there, Knapp said she got involved in other elections from congressional to the State campaign for former State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi (S.D. 34) in 2018. Biaggi defeated then-incumbent centrist Democrat State Sen. Jeff Klein, the former leader of the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), which voted at times with Republicans to block progressive legislation and later disbanded.

 

Knapp said she also worked on Martin’s and Rivera’s campaigns and realized that if the three female candidates who ran for city council in 2021 in District 11 had banded together and had decided on one female candidate, a woman likely would have won the race. “I learned that we, the progressive community, needed to band together,” Knapp said, adding that she later went on to cofound the Unity Democrats.

 

“If someone asks you to do something, it’s because they have confidence in you,” Knapp said. “I was asked to run for State committee, and I thought about it and I’m really thrilled to be here.” She said her plans, when elected, were to listen to constituents, learn what their issues were, take them to the State, to be transparent, and after meetings, to report to the community on the direction of the Party. She said her personal focus was on affordability, transportation, including bike safety, and the environment, and added that she was proud to run alongside the slate.

 

Ghebredmedhin paid tribute to Knapp for paving the way for future progressive candidates. “None of us are in this room without you,” he said. “A born and raised resident of Kingsbridge to parents who fled the longest war for independence of the 20^th century,” he said he is a member of Citizen Action and the Unity Democrats.

“The institution that gave my parents the American dream is facing an existential threat,” Ghebredmedhin said in reference to the Amalgamated Housing Corporation based in Van Cortlandt Village. Founded in 1927, and the oldest limited equity housing cooperative in the United States, Ghebredmedhin said it was ground zero for the affordability agenda that won the recent mayoral race for now NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani. He said Amalgamated and Mitchel Lama housing programs like it were facing a hundred-million-dollar debt crisis and attributed the cause to “do nothing Democrats.”

 

He said such Democrats tended to do the bare minimum and wait until the last second to act. He said he and the Unity Democrats slate, including Democratic candidate for State Assembly in District 81, Morgan Evers, who is challenging incumbent Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, were introducing a new generation of  “do something Democrats.”  He said they would fight “to rescue, preserve, and build on the legacy that the district provided New York and America.”

 

Ghebredmedhin said their political vision was one of shared leadership and transparency, and an agenda crafted from grassroots communities like the Amalgamated. He said it was one where Riverdale would find the underfunding of, and the various problems facing, residents of Kingsbridge and other less affluent neighborhoods in District 81 “spiritually intolerable.”

 

Slowly, and with emphasis, he added, “We will act.” He spoke of “the footsie” the Right play with “Nazi sympathizers” and how this was also “spiritually intolerable” to the “Jewish and undocumented children of Norwood, Wakefield, and Kingsbridge.” He continued,“If they come for you, they will have to get through every single one of us first.” Seemingly, this was in reference to the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. “Never again means never again for everyone,” he added.

Ghebredmedhin talked about the slate’s opponents poll testing constituents on whether Renée Goode (a mother shot by ICE in Minneapolis) was a domestic terrorist. “Shame!” he said, alleging the same opponents walk into ICE [handling] trainings with promotional pamphlets bearing their names and then leave.

 

Ghebredmedhin said his slate would not “put their finger in the air and determine whether it was convenient to fight Trump’s gestapo.” He said they also vowed to play their part to bring justice to those like Alex Pretti, killed by federal agents, and in the spirit of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, would “work together, pray together, struggle together, and go to jail together” knowing that everyone would be “free one day.”

 

Also in attendance was former New York Attorney General Oliver Koppell, who Martin said has been a mentor and supporter to her and who broadly encouraged people to vote. Later, Norwood News asked Koppell what were the highlights of his time as attorney general. “It’s just my pleasure to be here,” he said. “My career as attorney general was very rewarding but only one year… but my real career… it’s the important years that I represented this community, for 35 years as assemblyman and city councilman, and I’m very proud of having served, and to have had the support of this community for so many years.”

Meanwhile, Rivera said in part, “It is important, even on frigid days like this, to come out and support the folks that are looking to represent you. I know that you are in this room because you understand how important it is.” He said the way to do that was to get involved. Commending Martin, he added that district leadership was an “unpaid, thankless position., and then some” but that it was important to run for such positions to enable change.

 

The senator went on to say that it was a pleasure to support the Unity Democrat slate, as well as Martin, to bring new faces into local leadership, and that he hoped to also receive the support of the Unity Democrats in his reelection bid. “I don’t take it for granted,” he said.

 

Primary Elections Key Dates

The political party affiliation deadline is Saturday, Feb. 14, and if NYC Board of Elections (BOE) gets your enrollment change by Feb. 14, it takes effect immediately. The change of address deadline so you can vote at the correct polling location is Monday, June 8. The voter registration deadline is Saturday, June 13. The mail ballot request deadline (requested online or by mail) is Saturday, June 13. Early voting begins Saturday, June 13.

 

The in-person mail ballot request deadline is Monday, June 22. The mail ballot postmark deadline is Tuesday, June 23. Primary Election Day is also Tuesday, June 23. Only voters enrolled in a political party can vote in that party’s primary. The mail ballot receipt deadline is Tuesday, June 30, meaning this is the last day by which the Board of Elections can receive your mail ballot and have it counted.