Responding to primary loss

To the editor,

It’s been about a month since the Democratic Primary. I was Council Member Eric Dinowitz’s opponent in the City Council race — Danielle Herbert-Guggenheim.

In kindergarten I teach not to be a sore loser. That’s why I called Eric and left a message congratulating him on his victory. His campaign, with the strong backing of the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club, won.  However, one-third of the electorate did cast their vote for me, so I look forward to working with Councilmember Dinowitz on issues that matter.

But numbers don’t tell the whole story. 

I’m deeply proud of what our campaign accomplished. With a fraction of the resources, we planted the seeds of a new coalition in City Council District 11 — a coalition (The Unity Democratic Club, The North West Bronx Democrats, Guerinos Against Graffiti, Jews For Racial & Economic Justice, Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club and the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees) that reaches across neighborhood lines, that invites new voices into the conversation, and that is grounded in shared values, not political machines.

This movement is in the spirit of the Unity Democratic Club and, interestingly, in line with the original vision of the Benjamin Franklin Club’s own founding member, Oliver Koppell — whom I had the opportunity to sit with and learn from.

I ran to fight for a Bronx we want our children to inherit: a safer, cleaner, greener, more affordable Bronx. A Bronx that lives by the American principle that “we leave no one behind.” A Bronx that understands I am not doing well if my neighbor isn’t.

That means we must be honest — the Bronx faces real, systemic problems. And those problems demand bold, inclusive solutions. Our elected leaders must not only manage the status quo but also inspire. They must give Bronxites something real to vote for— not just a slate endorsed by insiders. If they don’t, then the “high voter turnout” in this primary will mask the deeper erosion of civic trust — and future “clean sweeps” will be little more than Pyrrhic victories as we lose more voters to indifference. 

The work continues. And so does the coalition we began to build.

Danielle Herbert-Guggenheim