Ydanis Rodriguez Running For Bronx Congress Seat

INWOOD, NY — Uptown City Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez has jumped into the crowded race for a soon-to-be-open congressional seat in The Bronx. The Inwood Democrat filed papers with the Federal Election Commission on Friday declaring his candidacy to replace retiring Rep. José Serrano in New York's 15th Congressional District.

The term-limited Council member said his immigrant background and long history of community organizing in the South Bronx makes him the best fit to take over the seat despite living in a different borough from his prospective constituents.

"The only thing that separates Northern Manhattan and the South Bronx is our river," Rodriguez, 54, told Patch in a Monday morning phone interview, adding that he wants to makes the nation's poorest congressional district one where "the working class will live with the dignity they deserve, with a path to the middle class."

Rodriguez is the ninth Democrat and 10th candidate overall vying to replace Serrano, federal records show. His candidacy was first reported by the New York Daily News.

Serrano, a Democrat first elected in 1990, announced in March that he would not seek another term after he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

Rodriguez's long list of opponents includes the controversial conservative Council Member Ruben Diaz Sr., progressive Council Member Ritchie Torres, state Assembly Member Michael Blake, and former Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who also lives in Manhattan. Congressional candidates are only required to live in the state that they are running to represent.

Rodriguez said he outperformed his competitors in the 15th Congressional District in the February special election for public advocate, which he lost to Jumaane Williams. Blake and Mark-Viverito also ran for the citywide office.

In that race, Rodriguez won three state Assembly districts that partially overlap with the congressional district, election results show.

The third-term Council member said his connections to the district stretch back to the late 1980s and early 1990s, when he helped organize Bronx CUNY students against tuition hikes. He said he would work to pass legislation to forgive student debt if elected to Congress.

"I think that is necessary and that affects everyone," Rodriguez said.

His uptown Council district shares lots of the same concerns as the 15th Congressional District — many people have moved between the two areas, and thousands of Upper Manhattan kids were bussed to the South Bronx because of school overcrowding in the 1990s, he said.

Rodriguez also argued that his experience as an immigrant from the Dominican Republic who came to the U.S. with a green card distinguishes him from other candidates. Mark-Viverito and Diaz were both born and raised in Puerto Rico, a United States territory whose natives are American citizens.

"It is time to stand up to Donald Trump and bring an immigrant to Congress," Rodriguez said.

Democratic voters will choose Serrano's likely successor in a primary election currently set for June 2020. The winner will likely go on to face Patrick Delices, the only Republican in the race so far, in November of next year.