Diana Richardson is heading to Albany to represent Crown Heights and Prospect Lefferts Gardens in the state Assembly. Her victory in a special election for Karim Camara's old seat brings a close to one of the stranger races in the city. NY1’s Grace Rauh filed this report.
Diana Richardson is going to Albany, propelled there by a decisive margin in a special election on Tuesday.
"I want you guys to know I know you did what we needed to do. We knocked, we knocked, we knocked again. We called, we called, we called again. And today we pulled them out. We brought it home and I am thankful to be the New York State assemblywoman," she said in her victory speech Tuesday night.
Her win marks the second time a candidate has won in New York by appearing on the ballot only on the Working Families Party line.
"We are starting to see a surge in populist politics in New York and Connecticut and I think in NJ and Chicago and lots of other places so I think this is symbolic of something happening around the country," said Bill Lipton of the Working Families Party.
Richardson is a registered Democrat, and she was competing against two other enrolled Democrats and a Republican for the seat. After a strange series of events and a paperwork snafu, however, no one actually ended up running for the open seat on the Democratic Party line. It created a bit of confusion, to say the least.
The rapid gentrification of the district, which includes Crown Heights and Prospect Lefferts Gardens, was a key campaign issue as were calls for more affordable housing. The city's rent regulation laws are up for renewal in Albany and a tax break for real estate developers is also being debated in the state capitol.
"People who live in this community and built this community are unable to stay in this community. This is why housing will be to the forefront of the issues I am fighting for when I am in Albany," Richardson says.
Richardson could go to Albany to be sworn in as early as Wednesday.