POLITICS
Ritchie Wins Early Nod From Victory Fund
Out gay lawmaker mobilizing LGBTQ support in race against homophobe
MATT TRACY
Out gay congressional
candidate Ritchie Torres
is making it clear he
needs the support of the
wider LGBTQ community in order
to defeat homophobic City Councilmember
Ruben Diaz, Sr. — and
so far, he’s showing he can meet
that hurdle.
The LGBTQ Victory Fund, a
Washington-based group that helps
elect out candidates at all levels of
government across the nation, endorsed
Torres on July 29.
The Victory Fund is now the second
LGBTQ-based organization
to throw its support behind the
Out gay Bronx Councilmember Ritchie Torres is gathering endorsements in the LGBTQ community, which
he says is necessary to beat his homophobic opponent, Ruben Diaz. Sr.
Bronx councilmember in the race
for the 15th Congressional District,
after he received the backing
NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL
of the Equality PAC — the political
arm of the Congressional LGBTQ
Equality Caucus — last month before
he offi cially kicked off his bid
for Congress. Torres has also received
fi nancial backing from out
gay Rhode Island Congressmember
David Cicilline and his PAC.
In a written statement, Victory
Fund’s out lesbian president and
CEO Annise Parker said Torres
would provide a “crucial voice to a
Congress where people of color and
LGBTQ people are severely underrepresented.”
“The South Bronx deserves a
leader who uses their position to
champion the urban poor and other
underserved communities, not a
man who uses his platform to deni-
➤ TORRES & VICTORY FUND, continued on p. 13
Torres Leads House Rivals in Cash, Bronx Donors
Out gay city councilmember leaps to big early lead versus two opponents
BY MATT TRACY
Building an imposing
war chest a year
ahead of the June 2020
Democratic primary,
out gay congressional candidate
Ritchie Torres blew his opponents
out of the water with a whopping
$522,000 fundraising haul from
April 1 to June 30 of this year.
Overall, Torres, a second-term
city councilmember who is the fi rst
openly LGBTQ elected offi cial from
the Bronx, easily outraised State
Assemblymember Michael Blake,
who brought in $120,941, and homophobic
Councilmember Ruben
Diaz, Sr., who raised $80,766. The
three candidates are competing to
replace outgoing US Representative
José Serrano in the 15th Congressional
District.
One striking conclusion from
the most recent fi nancial disclosures
is how much of the total
money raised in the race is coming
from outside the Bronx. Torres’
fi ling shows 61 donors in the borough,
totaling $44,575, according
to Federal Election Commission
(FEC) data. That marked the most
Bronx donations and largest haul
from the borough among candidates,
but less than nine percent
of his total war chest.
In the fi ling from Blake, who
is a vice chair of the Democratic
National Committee (DNC), only
seven donors from the Bronx are
identifi ed. They chipped in $5,414
or less than fi ve percent of his total.
Diaz’s totals in the Bronx — 44
donors giving a sum of $42,565 —
refl ect the greatest percentage of
borough contributions. Even there,
however, that represents only 52
percent of his overall war chest.
It should be noted that $21,111
of Diaz’s total and $24,0312 in
Blake’s donations were labeled
“unitemized individual contributions,”
meaning those donations
were less than $200 and therefore
did not require identifying information
including names and residential
addresses.
In total, then, in one of the nation’s
poorest congressional districts,
just 13 percent of $723,707
raised so far has come from donors
identifi ed as residents of the
Bronx.
With a long record of anti-LGBTQ
rhetoric and actions, Diaz, a
Pentecostal minister, has maintained
a loyal base of supporters
both in the Bronx and across the
tri-state area, as shown by his efforts
in recent years to mobilize
protesters on issues including
marriage equality.
Much of Torres’ total funds
came from elsewhere, including
from deep-pocketed contributors
and progressive political action
committees. He received two
$5,600 donations — one from the
construction management fi rm
Hudson Meridian Construction
Group and another from wealthy
hedge fund donor Donald S. Sussman.
Hudson Meridian builds luxury
residential high-rises, public
housing, and other buildings in
the metropolitan area, while Sussman’s
company, Paloma Partners,
was a major driver of Hillary Clinton’s
2016 presidential campaign.
Other top contributors to Torres’
campaign were the Equality PAC,
which is the political branch of
the Congressional LGBT Equality
Caucus, and a PAC affi liated with
out gay Rhode Island Democratic
Representative David Cicilline, a
co-chair of the Equality Caucus.
Each group chipped in $5,000.
His donors also included dozens of
attorneys, consultants, teachers,
and a handful of CEOs, as well as
more than two-dozen people who
work in real estate.
Blake’s campaign similarly welcomed
donations from dozens of
attorneys, corporate executives,
and consultants, though his top
donations did not exceed $2,800.
He received a $500 boost from Tom
Perez, the DNC chair.
The pattern of donations to
Diaz’s campaign was starkly different.
Twenty-seven of his of 81
contributors said they were either
ministers or have religious-based
occupations. His other top contributors
were Pedro Alvarez, who
runs a fi nancial solutions and tax
services company called P. Alvarez
Associations Corp., who chipped
in $2,800, and Alltown Car Service
president Hector José Diaz,
who gave Diaz $2,500.
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