News & Politics
Diana Ayala: The OTHER Uptown insurgent
The former City Council Member unseated Assembly Member Eddie Gibbs – and wants to work with DAC.
Outgoing Assembly Member Eddie Gibbs and Diana Ayala in happier times. Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for The Children's Place, Inc.
Upper Manhattan saw two incumbents go down Tuesday night, as former New York City Council Member Diana Ayala won her race against Assembly Member Eddie Gibbs 52% to 31% to represent Assembly District 68 in East Harlem.
Newcomer Darializa Avila Chevalier’s upset over Rep. Adriano Espaillat brought national attention to the district and surrounding neighborhoods. Even though Espaillat endorsed and campaigned with Gibbs, Ayala still says Espaillat was extremely present in the community. In fact, Ayala, who served two terms on the City Council and served as a council aide for four years before that, said she had never met Avila Chevalier – but she looks forward to speaking with her.
“I consider myself a progressive individual. Ideologically I think we believe in some of the same things. I think it's the way that we get there where there's a little bit of a difference,” Ayala said. “I would love to have an opportunity to get to know her better, introduce her to some of the stakeholders in our community and figure out ways to work together.”
“Her success is our success at the end of the day,” Ayala added.
Ayala said she’d worked closely with Espaillat for many years and felt that his loss was a loss for the district.
“I think that the community is hurt by this, right? It's hurt by the loss because he really was a partner to us,” she said. “I try to look at how competent is the individual? How in tune are they with the issues that impact everyday New Yorkers? Are they helping to address those issues or are they coming around and taking photos and keeping them moving, which happens sometimes too but it's a shame. I think it's a loss to the community.”
Gibbs, who was seeking a third full term, had made history as the first formerly incarcerated member of the state Legislature. Gibbs and Ayala were paired together during her eight year tenure on the Council in an overlapping district including East Harlem and the South Bronx, but they didn’t always have a great relationship.
Ayala said that she was now excited for the chance to work with her successor, City Council Member Elsie Encarnacion because, “as a former member of the council I found that I was a lot of the time doing a lot of the community work alone.”