Four More Years! Four More Years!

Incumbent Diana Reyna Wins a Third Term as Councilwoman

Tension was running high in the 34th district on Tuesday afternoon, as candidates and elected officials hit the streets for one last time before the final tallies rolled in, determining who will serve as councilmember for Williamsburg, Bushwick and Ridgewood for the next four years. The incumbent, Diana Reyna, won the race by a whopping 60 per cent of the vote, while her opponent Maritza Davila, running on the Working Families Party line, managed to rake in the remaining 35 per cent. But first, a break-down of the day.
Reyna and her crew set up shop outside of PS 250 on Meserole Avenue, where she was flanked by enthusiastic volunteers handing out literature and shaking the hands of passersby. Though, despite her widespread support throughout the neighborhood, it was a difficult day for Reyna and her volunteers: the culmination of a very stressful race.
“I’m not nervous, but I’m anxious!” Reyna said. “I’m anxious to be able to enjoy setting an agenda with the community for the next four years, so they can be the stakeholders of their neighborhood. But I’m disappointed in the behavior of the opponents, because this campaign has made an effort to rise above any negativity, even though we’ve had our fare share.”
Stationed just a few feet away from Reyna stood State Senator Martin Malave Dilan himself, armed with a handful of Maritza Davila literature.
“I feel that we need someone who will work in the district on a daily basis,” Dilan said. “And that’s been lacking for the last four years. But whoever wins, I will be the state senator, the assemblyman will be the assemblyman and hopefully the new councilmember can work with us. I just hope that person in Maritza Davila.”
The drama didn’t stop there, however. Inside the polling place, Councilmember Elect Stephen Levin and Marty Needelman of Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A were engaging in a scuffle. Needelman attested that one of the Chinese translators working at the polling station was pictured in a poster pinning to the Lindsay Park fence, endorsing Maritza Davila. As a consequence, the Board of Elections was called, and the translator was replaced. Not an uncommon occurance on election day, but enough to boil the blood of those involved.
A little bit south and a little bit east, Maritza Davila Stood on the corner of Humboldt and Moore, outside of MS 50, with several volunteers. She declined to comment.
As the polls closed, a crowd gathered outside of Reyna’s campaign office on Bedford Avenue, singing, cheering and blowing air-horns.
“Four more years! Four more years!” they shouted, all the time checking their blackberries and iPhones for up-to-the-minute poll returns. By 10PM, Reyna emerged from the office, where she and her staff had been holed up waiting for results, and fell into the embrace of so many friends, family members, volunteers and avid supporters. She had won the race, by an astounding 4,000 votes. As supporters filed out into the street, and eventually across to the a neighborhood bar where the afterparty was held, Reyna took hold of the microphone.
“This is Diana Reyna everyone!” She shouted excitedly over chants and applause. “This is your neighborhood and your community! Now let’s turn on the music!”