Cabrera vs. Rivera for state Senate enters round two

City Councilman Fernando Cabrera is challenging state Sen. Gustavo Rivera in the Democratic primary in September — his second bid for the seat.

The men’s current districts largely overlap, with both including part of Kingsbridge.

Mr. Cabrera suggested his strategy would be the same as in 2014, when his campaign tanked after a YouTube video emerged in which he praised the strongly homophobic government of Uganda. 

Like the last time, Mr. Cabrera wants this year’s campaign to center on his criticism of Mr. Rivera as not bringing funding to the 33rd state Senate district.

“We are in dire need of state funding and unfortunately our current state senator has not brought enough resources,” he said in a phone interview. “There are no institutions that [Mr. Rivera] can point to and say, ‘Look, this is what I have done.’”

While City Council members receive millions of dollars in earmarks, the practice is no longer officially allowed in the state Senate.

“All my colleagues in the council are partnered with their state senators,” Mr. Cabrera added. “We have not been able to do that because he has not been effective. He has been dubbed the do-nothing senator in our district.”

Mr. Cabrera also criticized Mr. Rivera’s record on Israel, saying he was dedicated to defending the Middle Eastern ally in all cases.

“I have the loudest voice for pro-Israel in the whole Bronx, as far as the council is concerned,” Mr. Cabrera said. “Rivera unfortunately has stood up against every bill that has been for Israel. I don’t see how anyone could support somebody in New York State that is against Israel.”

Mr. Rivera previously opposed a bill aimed at preventing public colleges and universities from participating in the American Studies Association’s (ASA) controversial 2014 boycott of Israel.  The state senator could not immediately be reached for an interview.

Mr. Rivera has previously criticized Mr. Cabrera for his stances on LGBT rights, abortion and other issues.

“We have a guy who is a Republican, changed his registration to Democrat just so he could run for office,” Mr. Rivera recently told The Norwood News. “He’s anti-choice, anti-woman, anti-LGBT and he takes money from right-wing hedge-funders who really give money to Republicans across the country.”

It was Mr. Cabrera who evoked a controversial Republican when discussing his opponent.

 “I would compare him to Donald Trump,” Mr. Cabrera said of Mr. Rivera. “He bullies and he labels people, that’s what he does.”

In 2014, Mr. Rivera handily staved off Mr. Cabrera’s challenge, by a three-to-two margin. In spite of reports that the Bronx Democratic County Committee asked Mr. Cabrera not to run again, he insisted that he has a shot.

“I would ask our constituents to look at the track record. When something happens, who shows up?” the candidate said. “Our constituents are smarter than that because they can see the work.”