The New York Working Families Party today announced its endorsement of four 2021 New York City Council candidates in the Bronx: Adolfo Abreu for City Council District 14, Mino Lora for District 11, Althea Stevens for City Council District 16, and Marjorie Velázquez for City Council District 13. All four candidates are longtime community leaders, spanning all corners of the Bronx.
The WFP today also endorsed four additional candidates in Queens and Brooklyn: Juan Ardila (District 30, Queens), Aleda Gagarin (District 29, Queens), Lincoln Restler (District 33, North Brooklyn), and Felicia Singh (District 32, Rockaways, Queens). This wave of endorsements follows the NY WFP’s first wave of New York City Council endorsements earlier this fall, supporting Tiffany Cabán for District 22 (Queens), Amanda Farías for District 18 (Bronx), Jennifer Gutiérrez for District 34 (Brooklyn), and Sandy Nurse for District 37 (Brooklyn).
“This year, New York City voters demanded bold, progressive candidates up and down the ballot. As we approach the 2021 elections, we must heed this mandate by electing City Council Members who are wholly committed to a working people’s agenda — from housing for all to fully funded schools to decarceral justice. The Working Families Party is thrilled to endorse these eight community leaders, who have fought for their neighborhoods for years — and who will keep fighting side by side in City Hall,” said New York Working Families Party State Director Sochie Nnaemeka. “Our city government must ensure New York’s CoViD-19 recovery protects and supports the many, not the wealthy few — and we know this slate of community leaders will join together to deliver for New York’s working people, immigrants and communities of color. We cannot wait to see them join the growing cohort of WFP champions who are bringing the movement to the halls of power.”
The WFP’s NYC Regional Advisory Council identifies values-aligned candidates, reviews candidate endorsement questionnaires, and interviews candidates. The Regional Advisory Council is made up of WFP affiliated community groups, labor unions, individual activists, WFP clubs and chapters, who collectively represent thousands of New Yorkers with deep ties to their local communities.
NY Working Families Party’s Second Wave of Bronx 2021 Endorsements
- Adolfo Abreu – District 14 (Northwest Bronx) – Abreu is a lifelong community activist and organizing director of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition. He has been organizing for justice in his Bronx community since high school, when he helped win the citywide student Bill of Rights. More recently, Abreu helped elect some of the Bronx’s most progressive champions in Albany, including State Senator Alessandra Biaggi and Gustavo Rivera. Abreu is running to fill the seat being vacated by term-limited City Council Member Fernando Cabrera.
- Mino Lora – District 11 (Northwest Bronx) – Lora is the founding director of the People’s Theatre Project and a member of the New York Immigration Coalition’s Leadership Council. Lora immigrated to New York at age 17 from the Dominican Republican, and has spent her life fighting at the intersection of immigration and educational justice. Lora is running to fill the seat being vacated by term-limited City Council Member Andrew Cohen.
- Althea Stevens – District 16 (South Bronx) – Stevens is a longtime Bronx community activist, non-profit professional, and advisory member of the NYCHA Tenants’ Association. District 16 has suffered high CoViD-19 death rates, increasing unemployment, and ongoing police brutality — and Stevens is running to increase investment in NYCHA and move funds from the NYPD to mental health services and public health informed violence prevention programs. Stevens is running to fill the seat being vacated by term-limited City Council Member Vanessa Gibson.
- Marjorie Velázquez – District 10 (South Bronx) – Velázquez is a lifelong Bronxite and current chair of the Municipal Services Committee Chair of Community Board 10. A seasoned community activist, Valezquez spearheaded an extensive mutual aid group in the Bronx at the onset of the CoViD-19 crisis. Velazquez is running to unseat incumbent City Council Member Mark Gjonaj.
- Previously announced: Amanda Farías – District 18 (Bronx) – Farías, a lifelong Bronxite and nonprofit director, is running for City Council District 18, which spans the Bronx River, Castle Hill, Clason Point, Crotona Park, Harding Park, Parkchester, Soundview, and parts of Crotona Park East, Ferry Point, Hunts Point, West Farms, West Tremont, and Zerega in the Bronx. Farías is running for the seat being vacated by Council Member Rubén Díaz, Sr.
“I am proud to have the endorsement of the Working Families Party. Their support of a progressive state legislature cleared the path for tenants to win the historic rent laws last year,” said Candidate for City Council District 14 Adolfo Abreu. “I look forward to co-govern with the WFP to guarantee a city that delivers for working people.”
“I am absolutely humbled to earn the endorsement of the Working Families Party,” said Candidate for City Council District 11 Mino Lora. “Like so many of us, WFP understands leadership does not just belong to those in power, but to those closest to the daily grind of this city and the pain it imposes. I am committed to the fight for a progressive government that actually aligns with our values, is bold, morally strong, and absolutely unafraid to put people first. In District 11, we deserve to feel, and actually be, represented in City Hall. ¡Pa’lante!”
“Being a Black, working class woman, and single mother, the Working Families Party endorsement is sure a meaningful recognition of the campaign I am creating – one of young people, people of color, and those not usually heard in my community,” said Candidate for City Council District 16 Althea Stevens.
“I am thrilled to have the support of the Working Families Party in my campaign for City Council. The WFP has long been one of the driving forces for progressive change in New York State—whether it is the fight for a living wage, paid sick leave for families, or pushing the state to lead on climate change,” said Candidate for City Council District 10 Marjorie Velázquez. “I am looking forward to partnering with the WFP to keep the focus on issues that matter most to working families and the essential workers who have New York running through this pandemic.”
This election cycle, over 294,000 New Yorkers cast their ballots on the Working Families Party line, protecting the party’s ballot amidst the tripled ballot threshold. The Party’s resounding success in the general election came after WFP-backed candidates won 33 contested State legislative primaries across the state, including three new WFP challengers who unseated Democratic incumbents — Jessica González-Rojas, Marcela Mitaynes, and Amanda Septimo; 13 new WFP candidates who won in open Democratic primaries — including Demond Meeks, Khaleel Anderson, and Jabari Brisport; and 17 WFP incumbents — including Yuh-Line Niou, Diana Richardson, and Julia Salazar, who won against challenges from the right. Together, these victories signal continued growth of the party and of New York’s progressive movement.