New York, NY (November 2, 2021)- Tonight, many of NYIC Action’s (the New York Immigration Coalition’s sister 501 (c)4 organization) slate of candidates for the City Council secured resounding victories and prepared to remake New York’s legislative body. While a few races are yet to be called, it is clear that the City Council achieved gender parity for the first time and will be among the most diverse in the city’s history.
All endorsed candidates committed to NYIC Action’s political agenda, 2021: A Vision for NYC, an inclusive policy plan to ensure that every New Yorker can thrive.
Murad Awawdeh, Executive Director of NYIC Action, issued the following statement:
“In 2021, NYIC Action tapped into New York’s growing immigrant communities—many of them first-time voters—across the city to get out the vote for leaders who promised to protect and empower immigrant New Yorkers. With a pandemic and an economic recession ravaging New York, we need leaders in City Hall who will ensure opportunity for all. The resounding victories of our slate of City Council candidates ensure that New York’s future City Council will be the most diverse in history. These are working moms, immigrants, and activists who know how essential our immigrant communities were during the pandemic and will be for our recovery and will bring that knowledge to City Hall. NYIC Action congratulates our candidates and Mayor-elect Eric Adams on their victories. We look forward to working with the Adams administration and this new class of Council Members on making real investments in our schools, bolstering the city’s legal protections for immigrants, and blazing a trail for immigrant civil rights.”
So far, NYIC Action-endorsed candidates with strong leads or confirmed victories include
The Bronx:
Kevin Riley – District 12
Marjorie Velázquez – District 13
Amanda Farias – District 18
Brooklyn:
Antonio Reynoso – Brooklyn Borough President
Eric Gonzalez-Brooklyn District Attorney
Lincoln Restler – District 33
Jennifer Gutierrez – District 34
Crystal Hudson – District 35
Sandy Nurse – District 37
Alexa Aviles – District 38
Shahana Hanif – District 39
Rita Joseph – District 40
Farah Louis – District 45
Manhattan:
Carlina Rivera – District 2
Erik Bottcher – District 3
Shaun Abreu – District 7
Diana Ayala – District 8
Carmen De La Rosa – District 10
Queens:
Donovan Richards – Queens Borough President
Tiffany Caban – District 22
Adrienne Adams – District 28
Background
This election cycle, NYIC Action endorsed in the Brooklyn District Attorney, the City Council, and four out of five of the Borough President races. Each round of endorsements was made following a careful review of candidates who pledged to build immigrant power and guarantee civil rights, end state support for detention, deportation, and mass incarceration, ensure economic justice and good jobs, and create quality education for all.
The 2021 platform also included the Our City Our Vote campaign, which supports legislation to permit lawfully present residents and those with work authorizations to vote in municipal elections, such as races for mayor, comptroller, public advocate, borough president, and city council, as well as referenda and other local contests. The original legislation was introduced by Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez in January 2020 and supported by a super-majority of Council Members.
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