BY ROBBIE SEQUEIRA
State Sen. Luis Sepúlveda, the District
32 incumbent who faces a diffi cult
reelection primary this summer, is hoping
for a better 2022.
Last January, the three-term senator
was stripped of committee assignments
after being charged in January 2021 for
a domestic assault for choking his estranged
wife, Elizabeth Sepúlveda. But
she refused to testify leading prosecutors
to drop the case in October, according
to the Offi ce of the Bronx District Attorney.
However, with the backing of the
Bronx Democratic Party and potential
reinstatement as chair of the powerful
state Senate Committee on Crime Victims,
Crime and Correction, Sepúlveda
is hoping that voters instead focus on
his record as a lawmaker and community
leader.
The party’s democratic leadership
declined to speak with the Bronx Times
about backing Sepúlveda this election
cycle.
“The Jan. incident is closed,”
Sepúlveda, 57, told the Bronx Times. “I
am focusing on my family and the work
I need to do for my constituents. I am
hopeful that people will focus on my progressive
record and the work my staff
and I do for the community, especially
during this pandemic.”
But for voters of New York’s 32nd
Senate District — the south and central
Bronx locale that includes the neighborhoods
of Parkchester, Soundview, Mott
Haven and Hunts Point, among others
— that’s easier said than done.
“I don’t believe in second chances for
someone who assaults a person, much
less their wife,” said Angelica Ramirez,
a Parkchester native. “If you’re going
to represent my district, my neighborhood,
I need to know you’re a good person.”
If voters aren’t as forgiving of
Sepúlveda’s professional and personal
nadir as his party is — the Progressive
has denied any wrongdoing and his legal
consul states that he’s exonerated — it
could provide an opportunity for Sepúlveda’s
Democratic primary challenger Ian Harris,
a Methodist pastor entering into the political
arena for the first time as a progressive grassroots
leader.
“I believe that voters should use their voice
— afforded to them in the form of a ballot —
to speak to the issues that they face. I’d imagine
that they want to elect someone who will
position themselves to be a conduit between
the resources and the community that they
serve,” said Harris, who announced his candidacy
last year. “There have been some tremendous
accomplishments from past and current
elected officials and some moments that
haven’t been as great. The conversations that
I’ve had with my neighbors have informed me
that they want more of the former and less of
the latter. ”
Sepúlveda and Harris, 35, have walked two
divergent paths to get to the same goal: Improving
quality of life for a district that has some of
the worst graduation rates in the state and the
highest rates of homelessness in sections like
Soundview.
Sepúlveda, who received a reported $57,337
in campaign contributions in 2021, according
to campaign finance tracker Follow the
Money NYC, champions himself as a community
based senator who gave out more than
200,000 face masks and hundreds of gallons
of hand sanitizers during the peaks of the COVID
19 pandemic and believes he can do more
to improve the district’s education, health and
economic development if granted a fourth
term.
“During my entire political career, I have
never taken reelection for granted,” Sepúlveda,
a former member of the state Assembly who
also made an unsuccessful bid for Bronx beep
in last year’s Democratic primary. “While
many of my colleagues get 10-20 constituent visits
per week, my office services well over 30-50
constituents per day. Those numbers are high
because we have a high needs community.”
Harris, who uses his experience as a 15-
year software tech to solve problems, wants to
center food insecurity — an issue that plagues
various sections of the Bronx — at the heart of
his campaign.
“I know what it’s like to be hungry. Being
“working poor” is real — having employment
that doesn’t allow you to satisfy all your financial
obligations — is something that I can speak
to and allows me to understand, firsthand, the
importance of earning a livable wage,” Harris
said. “Whether it was sleeping on subways,
friends’ couches, and/or showering at my gym,
these experiences guide my efforts in ensuring
that the looming eviction crisis does not add to
the crippling impact families have felt from the
pandemic. ”
Both Progressives in the race don’t differ
on much when it comes to policies. Both believe
housing is a human right, both want streets to be
safe without surrendering constituent’s rights
to police and both have done substantive, on-theground
work in the district.
Sepúlveda, along with area providers Urban
Health Plan, BronxDocs and Essen Health, created
an in-house program that increased vaccination
efforts in one of the borough’s least-vaccinated
areas, the South Bronx. He said that effort
allowed 2,750 residents to get inoculated. Harris
facilitated food distributions and connected community
food programs — who have seen their
ability to support their neighbors shrink considerably
after the USDA discontinued the “Farmers
to Families” program — to the Nourish Act,
one of his efforts to combat food instability in his
borough.
“Lip service does nothing when people need
results. It is my belief that I’m a resultsdriven
individual. I’d love to convey the
promise that character will translate to
the state Senate. However, I’d rather not
spend too much time articulating that —
as it takes away from putting in the actual
work.”
For a diverse district that includes
Bronxites spanning places like Bangladesh,
West Africa, Dominican Republic,
Mexico, Puerto Rico, what ultimately
will tip the scales come June? The incumbent
hopes voters will judge his threeterm
tenure in the Senate with fairness,
despite hiccups that plagued him in 2021.
“Many elected offi cials have grown
overconfi dent and it has cost them,”
Sepúlveda said. “If I were not to be reelected,
it would not be because of hard
work or overconfi dence.”
Members of the state Senate are
elected to two-year terms and command
an annual salary of $110,000 a
year, plus per diem.
COMMUNITY
CHIROPRATIC
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J 14 JAN. 21-27, 2022 BTR
“If I were not to be reelected, it would not be because of hard work or overconfi dence,” said
three-term state Sen. Luis Sepúlveda. Photo | Michael M. Santiago Getty Images
Faith, forgiveness on the ballot
in state Senate primary
of Throggs Neck
Kenneth P. Gonoud D.C.