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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. As early voting and mail-in voting take place in the New York Primary this week, we are devoting part of the show each day to selected races in each borough. Monday was Brooklyn, Tuesday was Queens, yesterday we covered Manhattan, and today we will talk about The Bronx. The current borough president is term-limited, as well as members who hold several city council seats. Actually, two of the city council incumbents who could have run for a second term declined to do so, that's even more open seats, therefore.

Just like with most of the borough's in our very blue city, the winners of these primaries will be so likely to win in November. Make your choices, voters. These will be your next elected officials, almost certainly. Joining me now to talk about the races and the key issues in The Bronx this primary season is David Cruz, WNYC and Gothamist news editor who has long experience covering The Bronx. Hey, David.

David Cruz: Hi, Brian. Thanks for having me.

Brian Lehrer: I've been told that you were outside the mayoral debate last night, and a sure sign of the city reopening after the pandemic, or we hope it's after the pandemic. It was quite a scene, huh?

David Cruz: That's right. It was quite the circus. It was, I think, 90 minutes or even two hours before the top mayoral candidates were supposed to arrive at WNBC studios. You already saw supporters for all the top candidates, just trying to determine who can be the loudest in that kind of ad hoc campaign-style event. Of course, I would say, that out of all of them, Eric Adams really had brought the most supporters. He had a huge sound system. He had a song. The moment that he came and arrived to the studios there was a song that was essentially saying the champ is here, and it really pumped up the crowd.

Of course, you had Andrew Yang supporters out there as well who had their own sound system, not as sophisticated as the Eric Adams campaign. I think that the idea was-- it was the last hurrah for a lot of these supporters for the candidates. I felt in a way it was a sign that things were opening up because I was thinking to myself whether or not we would have seen something like this if the last stages of the primary were in the heart of the pandemic.

Brian Lehrer: Yes. Or even a few months ago. All right. The Bronck's. Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr. is not just term-limited out of the role, but last spring he announced his retirement from politics. As you reported last year in City & State, Díaz was a potentially strong candidate to be New York City's first Latino mayor. In fact, if you go back a couple of years, people probably would have said, "Oh, it's going to be Rubén Díaz against Cory Johnson when it all comes down to it." Both of them decided not to run. What happened in Díaz's case?

David Cruz: It's pretty straightforward. Díaz simply didn't want to be a politician anymore. He had been a politician half his life. He had entered politics at a very early age. I think he was sort of reading the tea leaves and he thought, according to the sources that I spoke with, he just simply did not feel like he had a strong enough path to be the next mayor. Rather than just move along, he just decided early on that he was going to retire. I would say that as the borough president, he ends on a relatively high note, notwithstanding the fact that COVID really just upended some of the gains made for The Bronx.

He was well-liked, he's charismatic and he is leaving the post scandal-free. I'm sure that likely you won't see-- Díaz will remain an influential figure in politics, but he likely just thought that there was just no path for him.

Brian Lehrer: There are five candidates running for Bronx borough president, including two women, Assemblymember Nathalia Fernandez and City Council Member Vanessa Gibson. Can you talk about how each of them is campaigning so far in this race?

David Cruz: Both of them are touting their experience within their capacity as lawmakers. Nathalia Fernandez is the assembly member of the ADF assembly district and Council Member Vanessa Gibson is the 16th Council District lawmaker. Both of them are just touting what is a pretty progressive platform. They both want to see equity within-- For housing, they want to see more resources, diverted way from the police department. They both are appearing to run essentially the same type of democratic platform.

Although I have to tell you, the race, the front runner is up in the air but I think this is going to come down between Vanessa Gibson and her fellow colleague in the council, Council Member Fernando Cabrera. Both of them have their own council experiences and they both have essentially a resume to show to the voters. They really want to carry on the work that they've done in the council and have it translate within their capacity as the borough president.

Brian Lehrer: Then there's City Council Member Fernando Cabrera, running for borough president, longtime Bronx council member. I see he's been outraising his opponents. Who's donating to the Cabrera campaign?

David Cruz: Well, a lot of these donors are essentially small-time donors. He's built a pretty good apparatus across The Bronx, which has led to this robust war chest of $1.2 million, which is more than the rest of the candidates. He is getting help from the social conservative circles within The Bronx. There are some in the borough, but he doesn't have the same type of high-profile endorsements as Gibson. Gibson has a lot of name recognition behind these endorsements. The UFT and the 1199 SEIU, they've endorsed her campaign.

Both of them are trying to parlay that to get to the finish line. Each of them have touted their own council experiences. Cabrera has touted The Cure Violence model, saying that he helped expand that program, while Gibson is touting the right to counsel, which guarantees an attorney for anyone who is facing an eviction. I don't really see too much of a difference in terms of how they're politicking, although I will tell you that Cabrera is a social conservative, and he did accept the Sergeants Benevolent Association endorsement. It seals the stance as a socially conservative Democrat in the race. That can play well with pockets of The Bronx that are socially conservative.

Brian Lehrer: Very clarifying for people who've heard these names but don't know much about the differences. We'll mention the two other candidates in The Bronx borough president race briefly before we go on to some other ones, State Senator Luis Sepúlveda and retired NYPD Lieutenant Samuel Ravelo. Briefly about them?

David Cruz: Well, they're both are very different. I mean, I would say with Samuel Ravelo, he has no legislative experience. He's a retired NYPD Lieutenant and he's a major booster of the NYPD. He is staunchly against the whole 'Defund the Police' movement. Luis Sepúlveda has been around, he's a state senator. He was an assembly member before and he is running a very progressive platform.

He is in favor of reallocating monies away from the police and more to social programming. His campaign was marred by a domestic violence charge that he has contested. He's managed to stay in the race despite candidates wanting him to bow out. Between the two, they don't have as much support as say, Gibson, Cabrera, or even Nathalia Fernandez.

Brian Lehrer: You wrote, "The biggest worries in the race for Bronx borough president are surrounding COVID recovery because the Bronx has the worst jobless rate in the city." We've done a lot of segments on this show that the Westfarms neighborhood, in particular, unemployment spiked so heavily at the beginning of the pandemic, as well as being hit so hard by the virus itself. I wonder if the borough president can have an impact on that or if their powers are too weak?

David Cruz: Well, I think on the surface their powers are essentially too weak. I think, over the last few years, Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr. has been trying to make The Bronx the least healthiest county. It's currently the unhealthiest county in the state. I think even with some of the programs that he had launched through his tenure it still hasn't made much of a dent. I think a lot of the borough president candidates are fully aware that the biggest strength for the position is the fact that it's a bully pulpit.

It's intended to amplify these issues and they know that there are limits to their powers. They can, of course, allocate monies, they can allocate capital funding to programming and they can also pass legislation, but they also are fully aware that the powers are essentially limited. A lot of these candidates will have to run on some level of charm, building relationships to get the resources that are needed to help just reverse some of the issues that are happening within that borough.

Brian Lehrer: If you're just joining us, my guest is Gothamist editor David Cruz, as we talk about the Bronx and the New York City primaries and the boroughwide race for Bronx borough president. We'll get to some of the city council races, but I wonder if anybody listening anywhere in the Bronx has any thought or any question about any of these local races in New York's Northernmost borough. 646-435-7280, 646-435-7280.

District 11, Riverdale, which you noted is the most politically engaged city council district in the borough. The incumbent is Eric Dinowitz, who was elected just in March in a special election. He's also the son of Assemblymember Dinowitz who covers the same district. Who's running against him? What are the issues in Riverdale?

David Cruz: Right now, some of the biggest issues, as far as the candidates are concerned, is housing affordability. They want to ensure that people can stay in their homes and also just quality of life is a major concern. They want to essentially see crime, public safety tamped down. Although I would say the crime has dropped within that portion of the Bronx, but there are also issues involving transportation that some of the candidates want to address.'

I would say that among the candidates in that race, Mino Lora is probably considered the one who is likely to really be considered like the second front runner in that race. She is getting help from the current legislators, over there, State Senator Alessandra Biaggi and Congressman Jamaal Bowman. They've come out and stumped for her, which is something a bit of a rarity.

From what I spoke with some sources there, there's a lot of bad blood between Biaggi, Bowman, and the Dinowitz's. They are trying to really get-- making a big attempt to try and get him out of office. Then there's a Jessica Haller, and we have Abigail Martin, Daniel Padernacht, and Marcos Sierra. I should mention that Daniel Padernacht and Mino Lora and Jessica Haller also ran in the special election, but they lost to Dinowitz. Dinowitz, he won but he did sort of blow it out of the water. I think that's one reason why you're seeing these candidates come back again.

Brian Lehrer: You used to be the editor of a Bronx newspaper called the Norwood news. Norwood in the north Bronx, for people who don't know the neighborhood. For somebody like you, who's covered the Bronx for a long time, is it possible to say in some kind of general but specific terms how the pandemic has transformed the borough?

David Cruz: Yes. I think the pandemic essentially highlighted a lot of the nagging issues for the Bronx. The Bronx is the unhealthiest county in the state. Then there was, in the beginning of the pandemic, a lot of worry that once the pandemic had settled in, it would really devastate the Bronx. To some degree, it's become true because you eventually saw high unemployment. Unemployment was already high in the Bronx, and then it just went further up.

Then it led to this, to Steve Job losses, which led to one of the most, I guess, worrisome eviction filing rates in the city. For me, I've always felt like the moment something like this would come, it would really just erase a lot of these gains. I think the next borough president and the next Bronx council delegation, they have their work cut out for them to just try and regain a lot of the gains for the Bronx. I think once I saw that the pandemic had really taken hold in the Bronx, I had a feeling that whoever's going to become the next lawmaker for that borough, they have the work cut out for them.

Brian Lehrer: Here's Alicia in the Bronx calling from District 18 where Ruben Díaz Sr., who is so politically different from Rubén Díaz Jr.-- Rubén Díaz. For context for our listeners who don't know Rubén Díaz Sr., would it be accurate to say that he's the leading religious right Democrat of New York City?

David Cruz: Absolutely. I think without a doubt. I think he's a devout Pentecostal minister and who has no bones about telling anyone that he's guided by his religion and he has made no apologies for it. I think that's, of course, hurt him. It hurt his son. I think that's one driving force behind why he didn't want to run just. He knew he did not have support from this council colleagues anymore. He decided that it was better than he would just step aside.

Brian Lehrer: Which neighborhoods are those?

David Cruz: It's in the Soundview area, Clason Point, Harding Park. Those are some of the areas that he represents currently.

Brian Lehrer: He is leaving the city council and Alicia in that district is calling in. Hi, Alicia.

Alicia: Hi, good morning.

Brian Lehrer: What you got for us?

Alicia: Can you hear me? Well, I am a constituent here in District 18. I'm calling out of Parkchester and I'm voting for Amanda Farías. She ran for city council back in 2017 and she actually came in second to Rubén Díaz Sr. What was really inspiring about that is, she could have backed down and she didn't, she doubled down and since then she's become our state committeewoman. I think that [inaudible 00:17:04] to her resilience. She is a fighter.

Someone like me, a Latina, born and raised in The Bronx, that's really inspiring to see because of representation, and I can see that being inspiring to those [inaudible 00:17:21] the youth with new ideas who want to better our community as well. I feel that she is a candidate that puts in the work, she's putting the time. Something like 10 years, I believe in local politics. At least this is why local elections are really, really important. We deserve representation. We deserve leadership that's present in our community and her presence is definitely felt.

Brian Lehrer: Alicia, thank you so much for your call. A few more minutes to finish up with David Cruz on some of the New York primaries in The Bronx. On that District 18 race. The listener is supporting candidate Amanda Farías. This is one of those races, and we talked about so many of them in Queens earlier in the week, with so many candidates and so many candidates who are running as Progressives and people with the same interest that Alicia was articulating.

Besides Farías, there's Darlene Jackson, Eliu Lara, Michael Beltzer, Mirza Rashid, Mohammed Mujumder, William Rivera, and William Russell Moore. I don't know enough about all of them to say which ones are running as more progressive or more moderate or whatever, but how are candidates deciding among big slates like these? I mean, how were voters deciding?

David Cruz: Well, essentially a lot of the support has been thrown to Amanda Farías. She did get the support from Bronx Democratic Part. She is, I would think, the most progressive out of all of the candidates. She is running on a municipal jobs guarantee program. She is calling for defunding the police. She's essentially distinguishing herself from the rest of the candidates and also the sense that she does have also the most money as well. The other two, I would say, William Rivera, he's closely aligned with the incumbent and he's getting some support from him. I think they're also just trying to just tap into these-

Brian Lehrer: Meaning he's conservative, just so we're clear to listeners in that district. If he's running with the support of the incumbent Rubén Díaz Sr., then he's running to the right of the pack.

David Cruz: He has a conservative bent, I would say. He does have the support from Díaz as well, though it's not an official endorsement. I would say that the other candidates as well are running essentially on the same line. They want to improve the education system. They want to fight for affordable housing and they all do want to see public safety improved. I would say with respect to Amanda Farías as well, that she, along with three other female candidates in respective races, have been endorsed by the Bronx Democratic Party.

I thought that was pretty significant. I wrote about it early on in the election cycle, because I think the Bronx Democratic Party has long been viewed as this boys club, and they're trying to deliberately undo that image right now. I think they're attempting to be a little more inclusive under State Senator Jamaal Bailey, who is the Bronx Democratic Party chair. I think that to me, it signified a bit of a turn for the party itself, it's always been viewed as being too much of a club, but I think they're trying to change that up a little bit.

Brian Lehrer: All right, we're going to leave it here. As with the other boroughs, we couldn't get to all the city council races in the borough but listeners this is to give you a flavor and just help encourage you to vote, to study up on the candidates, to look at the voters guide that if you're a registered voter in New York, you probably got an email that does describe something about just about every candidate in just about every race or go to the Gothamist's voters guide or the New York Times Citizens Union one or some of the other voters' guides.

Also if you have an interest group that you think aligns with your interests, go see who they're endorsing. That definitely is a way that you can figure out how you match up with the candidate. When there are these races that have, let's see, in that one 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, we talked about a race in Queens the other day that has 15. There you go, some ways to study up if you haven't already, and cast that vote while early voting is still going on through Sunday or on Primary Day itself on Tuesday or by mail if you have your absentee ballot and read David Cruz's coverage on Gothamist. David, thank you so much.

David Cruz: Thank you, Brian.

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