#City council firebrand Ruben Diaz Sr. won’t seek reelection
“#City council firebrand Ruben Diaz Sr. won’t seek reelection”
Diaz’s announcement follows his distant third-place finish in the June Democratic primary to replace retiring Rep. José Serrano in Washington — a race likely won by fellow City Councilman Ritchie Torres, who is gay.
“EVERYTHING HAS ITS END,” the former state Senator tweeted in all caps.
“After serious analysis, of which I spent in prayer with God, family, ministers and after a political analysis, I have made the decision to follow the example of my two sons,” Diaz Sr., wrote in an email to supporters. “My biological son Ruben Diaz Jr., and my political son Marcos Crespo.”
Diaz Jr., Borough President of The Bronx, announced in January he was abandoning his 2021 campaign for the Big Apple’s mayoralty, while Crespo — the former Assemblyman and head of the powerful Bronx Democratic Party — stunned longtime observers in February when he announced he was stepping down from both posts.
“With the help of God and my Lord Jesus Christ, I intend to finish out this term as a Member of the City Council which comes to an end on December 31, 2021,” he added.
Torres celebrated Diaz’s decision to skip reelection.
“I cannot officially declare victory until the results are certified but I can announce that I have retired the politics of hate and fear in the Bronx,” tweeted Torres, who maintains a commanding lead to win the Democratic nomination to rep the 15th Congressional District. “Happy Belated Pride!”
The Board of Elections is still tallying absentee ballots from the June contests.
Diaz Sr. has been a lightning rod during his two decades in Albany and on the City Council.
In 2009, he joined with three other New York City state Senators in withholding support for chamber’s Democratic leadership.
Eventually, two of the “four amigos” would become key players in the coup that paralyzed the state Senate and turned it into a national laughingstock.
Diaz returned to city politics when he won a special election to take his Council seat in 2017. His tenure downtown was marked by a series of controversies that left him almost entirely sidelined.
The City Council stripped Diaz Sr. of his chairmanship in 2019 the committee that oversees Uber, Lyft and other for-hire vehicles after he told an interviewer that the lawmaking body was “controlled by the homosexual community.”
An uproar ensued as Diaz Sr’s fellow lawmakers — including Speaker Corey Johnson, who is gay — demanded the Pentecostal minister apologize, but he doubled down instead.
“Apologize? No, for what?” he one told The Post. “I didn’t say anything wrong. I am speaking the truth and the victim here is me. I’m the one.”
Even his son, Diaz Jr., was forced to try to distance himself as he sought to shield his aspirations from the political fallout.
“NYC is a place where we celebrate our diversity and inclusivity,” Diaz Jr. tweeted at one point. “The LGBTQ community is unequivocally an essential voice in our City,” the son’s tweet continued.
– Additional reporting by Bernadette Hogan
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