Eddie Gibbs Makes History As Harlem's New Assembly Nominee

HARLEM, NY — Four days after he secured the Democratic nomination for East Harlem's open State Assembly seat, Eddie Gibbs was still in disbelief.

"I’m totally surprised that I pulled it off," Gibbs told Patch on Wednesday. He is now all but certain to win the Jan. 18 special election for the 68th District seat, which was vacated by Robert Rodriguez after his appointment as secretary of state.

Gibbs, a 54-year-old district leader, won the Democratic nomination decisively during Saturday's meeting of party members from across the district. He won more than half of the 153 ballots cast, far outpacing his closest rivals: John Ruiz-Miranda, Wilfredo Lopez and Hilda Candy Vives-Vasquez.

That wide margin wasn't the only notable aspect of Gibbs's victory. East Harlem has long been one of the city's most prominent Puerto Rican communities, and this Assembly seat was New York's first to be represented by a Latino when Oscar Garcia Rivera was elected in 1937. (The district now includes parts of Central Harlem and the Upper East Side.)

Gibbs, unlike most of his opponents, is Black, and his nomination signals a shift in the political dynamics of the neighborhood long known as Spanish Harlem, or simply El Barrio. Indeed, East Harlem's Hispanic population declined from 49 to 45 percent between the 2010 and 2020 Census. (Its African-American population also dropped, from 37 to 28 percent.)

Tensions were on display during Saturday's meeting, as community leaders whipped votes for Gibbs's rivals, who were mostly Latino. But Gibbs said the tide shifted in his favor when one candidate explicitly referred to the 68th District as "a Puerto Rican seat" — alienating some Black party members who might otherwise have supported one of his opponents.

"You could see a little shift, and people started gravitating towards me," Gibbs said.

In a speech after his nomination on Saturday, Gibbs took aim at "this division that's going on in East Harlem," comparing it to the discord sowed by ex-President Donald Trump.

"I knew it was an opportunity to have a conversation," he told Patch on Wednesday. "You guys made El Barrio, but realistically, times are changing now. All are welcome."

"More than just a run for office"

A lifelong East Harlem resident, Gibbs grew up in the NYCHA Johnson Houses, where he was raised by a single mother.

His candidacy is historic in another respect: if elected, Gibbs may be the first state lawmaker to have served time in prison. He was convicted of manslaughter in 1988 for fatally shooting a man who was attacking him at the Johnson Houses, and served more than four years in prison before being released early, as the Daily News reported during Gibbs's 2010 run for Assembly.

Gibbs says his past is "no secret," but believes his story is one of redemption, citing his 30 years of service to the neighborhood following his release.

"Till this day I’m still very apologetic and disappointed by my actions and I make no excuses for them," he said.

In recent years, Gibbs has worked as a political consultant, staffing campaigns from the city to New Jersey to as far away as Florida. In January's special election, he will face a Republican candidate, as well as Tamika Mapp, a businesswoman who sought the Democratic nomination and is now mounting an independent bid.

In a Facebook post written the day after he was nominated, Gibbs said that his candidacy "represents more than just a run for office."

"My name on the ballot serves as the outcome of a fair criminal justice system and a commitment to redemption," he said.

Related coverage: Harlem Assembly Race Heats Up: Who Will Replace Robert Rodriguez?

Have a Harlem news tip? Email reporter Nick Garber at nick.garber@patch.com.

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