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Woolford to challenge Dinowitz’s Assembly seat
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BRONX TIMES REPORTER, N 10 OV. 26-DEC. 2,2021 BTR
r
BY ALIYA SCHNEIDER
Kingsbridge Democrat Jessica
Woolford is challenging
state Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz’s
Northwest Bronx seat,
which he has kept warm since
1994.
Woolford, a progressive who
has spent a decade working in
Democratic politics — mostly
in communications roles — told
the Bronx Times on Friday she
resigned from her position as
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s
New York City press secretary
two weeks prior to focus on her
campaign.
“Coming into this work as
a storyteller is really important
because I grew up for so long not
seeing stories like mine,” she
said.
She emphasized her experience
as the daughter of Dominican
immigrants, saying her
campaign goes beyond her candidacy
and is about investing in
the future leaders of the Bronx.
Woolford grew up in Kingsbridge
and lives in Riverdale.
The Assembly’s 81st District,
which she is running to represent,
includes Riverdale, Kingsbridge,
Van Cortlandt Village,
Kingsbridge Heights, Marble
Hill, Norwood, Woodlawn and
Wakefi eld.
“To be a daughter of the district,
to be a Dominican American
woman who grew up here,
you can’t miss how important
representation is,” she said.
“When at a moment we’ve
seen so many progressive Latinas
win local offi ce across the
Bronx, it’s because of our lived
experiences. It’s because of how
we were raised.”
Progessive Democrats Pierina
Sánchez, Amanda Farías
and Marjorie Velázquez, all incoming
Latina councilwomen,
will replace male predecessors
who represented Bronx communities.
“The women who raised us
were incredible infl uences for
us to learn about resilience, to
really practice our faith and to
really work hard for the community,”
she added. “So those
kinds of values are really important
to the communities that
live here.”
Woolford speaks English
and Spanish in her fi rst campaign
video, which features her
grandmother, a Kingsbridge
resident, who taught her “care
should never be conditional.”
The 31-year-old emphasized
putting “people fi rst,” and said
“impossible is a challenge we
don’t shy away from in the
Bronx.”
Woolford is the founder of
Kingsbridge Unidos, a volunteer
run effort that has delivered
more than 30,000 pounds
of fresh produce, thousands of
masks, and bilingual information
about pandemic aid to families
in Kingsbridge. The project
began with buying groceries
wholesale for 24 families in her
grandmother’s building as the
COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020.
This is the fi rst time Woolford
is running for elected offi
ce, and she said after working
on mutual aid projects in the
borough she decided it was time
to focus on systemic change.
Dinowitz, who also identifies
as a progressive, initially won a
special election in February 1994
and won the next 14 elections.
He grew up in Soundview and
Kingsbridge Heights and now,
like Woolford, lives in Riverdale.
Before joining the state Legislature,
he was elected as a New
York Democratic Committee
member in 1978.. He also chaired
the Bronx Democratic Committee
from 2008-2016.
The 66-year-old had not faced
any primary challengers until
2020, when George Diaz Jr.,
a Norwood Progressive ran for
the seat. The incumbent told
the Bronx Times on Friday he
doesn’t know how contentious
the 2022 primary race will be,
but he plans “to work as if it’s the
toughest race in human history.”
He said he doesn’t know
much about Woolford but looks
forward to “a primary contest
based on the issues.”
“It’s certainly going to be
hard to say that I haven’t gotten
good things done in the community,
that I haven’t gotten good
laws passed,” he said.
He pointed to the twice-extended
COVID-19 Emergency
Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention
Act and the bill that allowed
people to vote by absentee
ballot because of the pandemic,
both of which he sponsored.
The legislator also cited food
and personal protective equipment
giveaways in the district,
saying his team reaches out to
people “in all corners of the district.”
Members of the state Assembly
make $110,000 annually plus
per diem, and their terms last
two years. The primary is scheduled
for June 28, 2022.
Jessica Woolford is challenging
state Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz’s
seat in the 2022 Democratic
primaries.
Photo courtesy Jessica Woolford
link