Candidates across the political spectrum are gearing up for the General Election, and the date to cast a ballot is fast approaching. Early voting runs through Nov. 1 and polls close on Nov. 3 at 9 p.m. Visit vote.nyc for more information.

Congressional District 15

District 15 includes Riverdale and Spuyten Duyvil, as well as parts of the south and east Bronx. U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres has represented the area since 2021.

U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres — Democratic Party

Before Congress, Torres was elected to city council in 2013 at 25 years old, making him the city’s youngest elected official and the first openly LGBTQ+ person elected in the Bronx. He was raised by a single mom in public housing.

Torres said his priorities are affordability, with a focus on healthcare and childcare, holding the Trump administration accountable, and ensuring artificial intelligence safety. He is also concerned with public safety, specifically combatting antisemitism.

He cited accomplishments during his time in office, such as being a “national voice against hate in all forms,” securing more than $60 million in community project funding for the Bronx and more than $1 billion for the city’s public hospital system, and leading the effort to reimagine the Cross Bronx Expressway in order to reduce the borough’s asthma rates and greenhouse gas emissions. Torres also said he has a close working relationship with local elected officials such as Council member Eric Dinowitz and Assembly member Jeffrey Dinowitz.

“The Bronx is not only where I represent, it’s who I am,” Torres said.

Gonzalo Duran — Conservative Party

Gonzalo Duran is vice chair of the Bronx Conservative Party, district leader for the 79th Assembly District and founder of Devil Dog USA Incorporated, a nonprofit that advocates for veterans’ mental health awareness.

Devil Dog was inspired by Duran’s own experiences as an Iraq War veteran who experienced periods of homelessness when he returned to the United States. He was born in Belmont and grew up with a single mother who immigrated from El Salvador.

Duran is focused on housing, namely maintenance repairs to New York City Housing Authority buildings and building new structures. He also wants to provide more funding for first-time home buyers in order to preserve the character of the neighborhood, which he said is at risk of overdevelopment. Public safety needs are not being met, Duran said. He supports greater funding toward police departments to ensure they are fully staffed.

Duran believes his time in the Marines, as an administrator and then sergeant, and experience as a nonprofit leader have equipped him for office.

“I show that I can do the work,” Duran said. “The only thing that’s missing is the position.”

Andre Easton — Party for Socialism and Liberation

Andre Easton is a Bronx public school teacher whose parents immigrated from Jamaica. He believes in raising the minimum wage to $30 an hour, lowering rent to no more than 20% of a person’s income and universal healthcare.

He supports repealing the Faircloth Amendment, which limits the construction of new public housing units. Building new, high-quality public housing would provide residents with options outside of the private sector, and prevent landlords and real estate developers from increasing rent, he said. Easton also believes in universal childcare. 

He said the issues he is looking to address are a result of capitalism, which is a “system that benefits billionaires.” The Bronx, he said, distributes fish, meat and produce to the city through the Hunts Point Cooperative Market, helping the city reach a wealthy status. The wealth that comes from the Bronx’s labor needs to be under Bronx workers’ control, he said.

“I am the candidate that is running on a campaign to put that power back in the workers’ hands,” Easton said. “And to allow the working class to decide what kind of future and what kind of quality of life they want to live.”

Stylo Sapaskis - Republican Party

Stylo Sapaskis hopes to improve public safety by hiring more police officers, which would also improve response times, he said. Sapaskis lives in Riverdale and said he believes there has been a decline in officers patrolling the neighborhood.

He also wants to create more jobs, citing support for a proposal several years ago from Amazon to build a headquarters in Queens that city lawmakers opposed.

He is against city-owned grocery stores due to concern it would cost taxpayers a “tremendous amount of money” to build and operate, and take away business from mom-and-pop shop owners who can’t afford to lower their prices. It’s an instance of Democrats wanting to “spend our hard-earned money on frivolous things,” he said.

Sapaskis said he believes in nuances, and thinking outside the box in order to meet the needs of Bronx residents. He wants to refrain from unnecessary spending that he said burdens taxpayers. 

“I want to reinvent more opportunities for the people here in the city,” Sapaskis said. “Especially in my community, and especially in the district I’m representing.”

Jose Vega — Speak the Truth Party

Jose Vega is a political organizer and associate of the LaRouche movement who grew up in the South Bronx.

He wants to expand public transportation within the Bronx, making it easier for other borough residents to reach Riverdale. He would do this by creating a subway line from the east Bronx to west Bronx, he said.

Vega hopes to improve public safety, especially for those that feel unsafe practicing their religion. He aims to focus on the history of Judaism in the Bronx, and believes growing antisemitism could be curbed by an extended program for educational outreach and community involvement.

He said Riverdale is among the neighborhoods in the Bronx that have been hit the hardest by the rise in cost of living, citing grocery prices and the difficulty of transporting goods into the area. Vega has heard from constituents that roads are not well maintained in the area, and he supports partnering with the city government to address potholes. He also wants to respond to reports of brownouts.

Vega said he has an ability to “call it as I see it,” regardless of political party, and if elected would help address Washington’s “complicity with corruption.”

Congressional District 13

District 13 includes Marble Hill, Kingsbridge, Kingsbridge Heights, parts of the west Bronx, Upper Manhattan and Harlem. U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat had represented the district since 2017, but was unseated  by Darializa Avila Chevalier in the June Democratic primary election.

Jomo Manuel Williams — Republican Party

A lifelong resident of Harlem, Jomo Manuel Williams, is a U.S. Army veteran running as a Republican. According to his campaign website, as a former Democrat, Williams identifies as an urbanist conservative, citing disagreements with Democratic policies on immigration, public safety and housing as reasons for leaving the party.

Williams worked as a Verizon communications technician, cable industry contractor and paralegal for Harlem-based law firms, his campaign website says, and his educational background includes paralegal studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

His platform emphasizes increasing police funding and addressing economic challenges facing working-class residents, according to his website. On immigration, Williams supports strengthening border security and temporarily restricting immigration during periods of high unemployment, housing shortages or displacement. He also supports elements of the bipartisan Dignity Act, while proposing additional screening requirements for immigrants seeking legal status.

Williams also proposes giving district residents a greater role in shaping federal legislation. According to his website, he supports allowing constituents to introduce amendments to proposed policies and vote on them during community meetings, allowing residents to weigh in directly on legislative priorities. His campaign also calls for a broader overhaul of the criminal justice system.

Williams could not be reached for an interview.

Darializa Avila Chevalier - Working Families Party/Democratic Party

Democratic Socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier is a community organizer and public defender’s office investigator whose campaign focuses on affordable housing, immigrant rights and expanded access to healthcare, according to her campaign website.

Raised in a working-class Dominican family, Chevalier is the daughter of a truck driver and a caseworker, her campaign website states. She spent portions of her childhood in the Dominican Republic, Florida and Venezuela before moving to upper Manhattan approximately 14 years ago to attend Columbia University.

Her platform calls for expanding affordable housing, strengthening tenant protections, increasing Section 8 rental assistance and funding public housing, according to her website.

Chevalier supports Medicare for All, which would establish universal health coverage, as well as expanding pathways to citizenship and providing legal representation for immigrants facing deportation. She also supports redirecting federal military spending toward domestic programs, including child tax credits and baby bonds, through her campaign’s “Babies, Not Bombs” initiative, her website states.

Chevalier also advocates for strengthening labor protections and expanding economic opportunities for working-class New Yorkers. Her campaign supports raising the minimum wage, strengthening union rights and increasing financial assistance for families. She has also called for preventing deed theft, a practice that can strip homeowners of their properties through fraudulent transactions.

Chevalier was not available for an interview.