Will Working Families Party Wave Finally Upend Legacy Politics in the Northwest Bronx?

By JENNA POST & SÍLE MOLONEY

Local voters are no doubt aware of a growing progressive Democratic movement in the Northwest Bronx, and in The Bronx generally, as in much of New York City over the past several years. Past notable wins have included State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (S.D. 33) in 2010, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) in 2018, along with former State Sen. Alessandria Biaggi (S.D. 34), and former Congressman Jamaal Bowman (NY-16) in 2020.

In the Northwest Bronx, the Working Families Party, and others, are aiming to wrestle away a state assembly seat that, as reported, has not changed hands in over 30 years from incumbent Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (A.D. 81), 71, who first won the seat in a special election in 1994 and who, as reported, formally launched his reelection campaign in February.

Last year’s historic election of Democratic Socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has propelled the Democratic progressive movement in New York City to new heights, and is being read by allies as a sign of growing traction for the Working Families Party-aligned progressive wing in New York City politics.

However, that progressive momentum faced clear limits in the 81st Assembly District. While the Bronx, overall, flipped to Mamdani in the general election (51.5% to Cuomo’s 40%), centrist Democratic pockets of the 81st District resisted the tide. Voters in Riverdale and Kingsbridge turned out in high numbers to back Cuomo’s independent bid over Mamdani’s Democratic Socialist platform. Though Mamdani ultimately secured an overperformance across the broader district, his lukewarm showing in some of the high-turnout, moderate strongholds is an indication that a deeper progressive shift may not be a given.

The potential ideological shift in Northwest Bronx politics is emblematic of broader friction inside Bronx Democratic politics, with several progressive candidates also challenging their more centrist incumbent counterparts. The A.D. 81 race, in particular, has become a proxy battle over the future of Democratic politics, at the same time as some Bronx representatives in the State assembly receive unprecedented amounts of campaign donations from tech behemoths like Airbnb and Uber, as reported by New York Focus.

Progressive critics point to the donations as evidence of corporate influence over Democratic politics and a drift away from working-class priorities. It is not the assemblyman’s first time at the rodeo, however, and the seasoned politician has seen off other challenges over his 30+ career, as reported.

Though the largely centrist Bronx Democratic Party eventually gave their backing to Mamdani in last year’s general election (after he won the Primary), Assemblyman Dinowitz and the assemblyman’s son, Councilman Eric Dinowitz (C.D. 11), whose council district heavily overlaps with A.D. 81, did not attend the endorsement event for Mamdani at Lou Gehring Plaza. Both politicians had shared their concerns with Norwood News over Mamdani’s candidacy last year.

Meanwhile, the City’s progressive movement has been fueled by, among other groups, the New York Working Family Party, and advocates are optimistic that in the upcoming June 23rd primary in the Northwest Bronx, their candidate, Morgan Evers, 42, a teacher and disability activist, who, as reported, launched her assembly campaign last year, can put an end to what they see as legacy centrist Democratic politics in the Northwest Bronx stronghold.

Both Dinowitz and Evers are Jewish and a large contingent of A.D. 81’s voting population are also Jewish. Dinowitz has a long-term ally in the form of the Ben Franklin Reform Democratic Club (BFRDC), a club not without controversy. A long-time institutional force in grassroots organizing and the assembly district’s Democratic endorsement process of largely centrist candidates, club members voted to endorse Andrew Cuomo for mayor in last year’s Democratic primary.

In the past, BRFDC has backed members of the bizarrely named “Independent Democratic Conference,” a now disbanded group of State Democrats who frequently voted with a then Republican-led majority in Albany, halting the passage of much progressive legislation as they did so.

As reported, while the assemblyman is also running on a campaign centered around affordability, immigration, and housing, among other topics, and while he has taken steps in recent years to advance progressive legislation pertaining to, for example, climate, voting rights, healthcare, and accountability for sexual assault survivors, his efforts have resulted in varying degrees of success. Meanwhile, his historical links with BFRDC have not been forgotten by many. Evers, on the other hand, was among those to break away from BFRDC to form new Northwest Bronx Unity Democratic Club in 2022.

As reported, the Working Families Party endorsed Evers in March, backing her progressive platform, and describing her as a “bold new leader” in the affordability crisis. To get Evers on the ballot, she said volunteers knocked on nearly 15,000 doors.

Meanwhile, seemingly in efforts to reach a growing, largely Kingsbridge-based, Hispanic voter base, the assemblyman and his allies have given their backing in recent years to Johanna Edmondson, of Dominican heritage, when she ran as State committeewoman in A.D. 81 in 2024, and won. Her campaign was also not without controversy, stemming from discretionary funding her Female Fight Club received from the councilman for her North Riverdale-based gym.

In addition, Councilman Dinowitz also won his seat in a special election in 2021, amid prevailing allegations of favoritism at the time, and with many feeling it gave too much political power to one family. Some felt it also concentrated too much power in the more affluent parts of both the assembly and the council district, such as leafy, suburban Riverdale, where much of their support lies, at the expense of others like Norwood and Wakefield. It was an argument also raised by challengers during the City Council election in 2021.

A.D. 81 district encompasses Kingsbridge, Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil, Van Cortlandt Village, and parts of Norwood, Wakefield and Woodlawn in the Bronx. During the assemblyman’s reelection campaign launch event, seemingly in efforts to show empathy for some of the more crime-ridden neighborhoods within A.D. 81, a reference was made by one of his surrogates during a speech to a recent shooting that had occurred in “Norwood.”

While the exact shooting was not referenced, the most recent shooting (before the Feb. 8 event) had actually taken place in Bedford Park on Jan. 29, not Norwood, a reference which appeared to demonstrate a lack of knowledge by the Dinowitz candidate slate of the geographic make-up of A.D. 81.

Bronx Community District 7, which covers the neighborhoods of Norwood, Bedford Park, University Heights, Fordham Heights and Kingsbridge Heights is, frustratingly, some would say split across A.D. 81, represented by the assemblyman, A.D. 80, represented by Assemblyman John Zaccaro Jr., A.D. 78, represented by Assemblyman George Alvarez, and A.D. 86, represented by Assembly Member Yudelka Tapia, diluting the collective voting power of the community district as a whole.

Only one part of Norwood, including the Williamsbridge Oval park, parts of East Gun Hill Road, and Montefiore Medical Center, for example, falls into A.D. 81, and while the assemblyman has funded efforts to improve the neighborhood, it is one that is long plagued by rental repair issues, quality-of-life complaints, and other problems like poor mental health, gun violence and stabbings.

While Evers has the support of the Working Families Party, Dinowitz has the backing of many labor unions, including the NYS AFL-CIO, the Civil Service Employees Association, and the New York State Nurses Association, with whom he rallied during the nurses strike earlier this year, as did Rivera, chair of State Senate health committee, whose senate district overlaps with A.D. 81, and who has backed Evers.

Evers is also endorsed by another incumbent State Senator whose senate district overlaps with the 81st assembly district, Robert Jackson (S.D. 31). Both Jackson and Rivera are also endorsed by the Working Families Party. Jamaal Bailey (S.D. 36), chair of the Bronx Democratic Party, whose senate district also overlaps with A.D. 81, endorsed Dinowitz.

Additionally, G. Oliver Koppell, former New York State Attorney General, who also represented A.D. 81 for 24 years until Dinowitz was elected to the seat in 1993, also backs Evers, saying in part “new voices with the ethics that these times demand, and which are sorely lacking in this district, are needed. As reported, Evers has also been endorsed by the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club.

As reported, Evers, if elected, would become the first blind woman to serve in the New York State Assembly. Although it’s her first campaign for the Assembly, she previously served on the Democratic State Committee. In 2022, as reported she was removed from the ballot while seeking reelection to that post because of a paperwork error. Evers said at the time that, because of her disability, she relied on campaign staff to assist with handwritten filing requirements. New York City has stringent rules to get on the ballot.

Her campaign says experiences like that reflect the kind of gatekeeping politics she wants to challenge. “You should be able to feel like you can enlist and interact and engage your State representatives for help when you need it,” said Evers’ campaign spokesperson Jin Whang. As a candidate living with a disability, Evers frames accessibility as a core pillar of her campaign, shaping both her policy priorities and her approach to constituent engagement.

Norwood resident, Janet Goodman-Clarke, 55, said that after struggling with a landlord on a list of worst evictors buying up a majority of co-ops in her building, Dinowitz’s office was unresponsive, even cancelling a meeting after she had paid for a taxi to his office. “Whenever they want to do a presser, and that includes Richie Torres too, they go running over to Riverdale,” she said. “And I don’t see them running around here unless they want to do like a little PR thing with like ‘Oh here, I have a backpack for school.’ That’s about it,” Goodman-Clarke added.

Meanwhile, supporters of Dinowitz say his decades in office have given him the relationships and institutional knowledge needed to deliver for the district. “Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz is proud of his record of delivering for the North Bronx, with real results in every community that are unmatched,” said campaign spokesperson Matt Rey.

Rey cited funding for restorative justice, youth programming, college access, and drug prevention at local community centers, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars in school improvements and millions invested in Van Cortlandt Village housing complexes. He also pointed to progressive wins, including historic tenant protections, the eviction moratorium, a major middle-class tax cut, and expanded immigrant protections.

But up the hill, even in affluent Riverdale, Dinowitz has begun to face skepticism from some longtime residents. For some, a breaking point came amid frustration over the neighborhood’s vacant storefronts at Knolls Crescent retail plaza, a once-bustling walkable shopping hub where the shuttering of key anchors like Chase Bank and Rite Aid left a dilapidated, empty strip behind local senior co-ops.

The co-op boards organized a meeting to address the vacancies. Evers attended the first meeting to hear their concerns. Dinowitz attended the second meeting, with the city council member, and encouraged residents to continue pressuring lawmakers to support legislation he sponsored that would create a tax penalty for persistently vacant retail properties.

“You’re a 32-year incumbent,” said Knolls Crescent resident Lisa Amowitz, 67, who attended the meeting, and campaigns for Evers. “What have you been doing?” she asked.

The leader of the “Save Knolls Crescent” group, Karen Kawaguchi, said that the group will not formally endorse a candidate, but added that she appreciated the attendance of both candidates at their meetings. She added that Dinowitz has been responsive and helped to arrange a Zoom meeting between their group and one of the Knolls Crescent landlords to discuss solutions. However, the group, Save Knolls Crescent, remains unable to locate the landlord in the strip, whose properties have been vacant for many years.

Early voting is underway and continues through Sunday, June 21, until 5 p.m. Election Day is Tuesday, June 23. Learn more here.