George Diaz to mount 2nd Assembly bid
BY ALIYA SCHNEIDER
George Diaz Jr., a progressive
who unsuccessfully challenged
state Assemblyman
Jeffrey Dinowitz in the 2020 primaries,
is throwing his hat into
the ring again.
Diaz’s candidacy marks the
second primary challenge to
Dinowitz, after Progressive Jessica
Woolford, a former U.S.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand spokeswoman,
announced her candidacy
for the same spot last
month.
Diaz told the Bronx Times he
initially decided to run in 2020
because he thought it was “ridiculous”
that Dinowitz won a
special election in 1994 — then
13 consecutive elections — and
had never been challenged in a
primary. That year, Dinowitz,
a Riverdale Democrat, won his
14th general election for the 81st
Assembly District, after defeating
Diaz 64%-36% in the Democratic
primary.
“I’m not gonna let this guy
get another two years without
having to work for it and just be
ushered in,” Diaz told the Bronx
Times.
The 39-year-old works as a
docket specialist for law fi rm
DLA Piper and used to work for
former City Councilman Oliver
Koppell, who also served in the
state Assembly and was the state
attorney general in 1994.
Diaz is the former third vice
president of the NAACP’s Bronx
branch and is part of Concerned
Citizens for Change, Northwest
Bronx Indivisible and Bronx
Progressives.
He has lived in Norwood
since he was 12-years-old, the
same year Dinowitz began representing
the district in the state
Legislature. Originally from
Mott Haven, Diaz has also lived
in Kingsbridge and Wakefi eld.
The Bronxite said he wants
to push for the creation of a permanent
and independent public
integrity bureau within the
Attorney General’s offi ce dedicated
to investigating public
employees and elected offi cials.
Diaz also believes voters should
have a larger say, with more
referendums on ballots and all
judges elected, not appointed.
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After his experience juggling
work to afford college
classes, Diaz believes SUNY
schools should have free instate
tuition and CUNY schools
should be free for New York
City residents. While the Excelsior
Scholarship program was
implemented to provide free tuition
for middle-class New Yorkers,
Diaz said it requires going
through hoops and not everyone
qualifi es.
Additionally, he believes
there should be more state funding
for subways, which are riddled
with disability issues. He
also said landlords should be
held criminally liable, saying
neglectful housing conditions
and tenant intimidation are a
form of domestic violence.
Diaz said he wants to turn
the tables during the campaign,
asking people what their concerns
are.
“What are they going to talk
about at the dinner table?” he
said. “A lot of politics is really
based on that. We can talk about
all these great things we want to
do, and they’re all worth fi ghting
for. But we also need to be
able to talk to people about those
kitchen-table issues.”
While Dinowitz, 66, told the
Bronx Times he doesn’t know
how competitive the 2022 primary
race will be, he said he
will treat it like the toughest
race in history.
But he said Diaz’s 2020 primary
bid didn’t pose a “very vigorous
challenge.”
Diaz told the Bronx Times
his campaign is in a better fi -
nancial position this time
around, and he has more opportunities
to campaign in person
with the COVID-19 pandemic being
less debilitating than it was
in 2020.
Diaz said that as an elected offi
cial, he would hold other politicians
accountable.
“My dad likes to remind
me regularly, politics is a dirty
game,” Diaz said. “And he’s right.
But the game is going to stay
dirty as long as a lot of us just feel
disaffected and decide we’re just
going to leave things alone.”
Diaz believes Dinowitz hasn’t
paid enough attention to his
neighborhood of Norwood or
Wakefi eld, where his grandparents
— who moved to New York
from Puerto Rico — lived.
Members of the New York
State Assembly make $110,000
annually plus per diem, and their
terms last two years. The primary
is scheduled for June 28,
2022.
George Diaz Jr., is challenging
state Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz
for a second time. Photo courtesy
George Diaz Jr.
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