Dinowitz-backed candidates win key state committee and district leader races in Riverdale

We faced significant challenges, including being outspent by a large margin and contending with a disinformation campaign.”

Abigail Martin, Democratic district leader

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz’s preferred candidates regained their majority influence in greater Riverdale politics with a series of state committee and district leader victories

Representing the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club, Michael Heller secured 1,167 votes over challenger Aaron Stayman to retain his seat as the male state committee representative.

Newcomer Ben Jackson narrowly defeated incumbent Ramdat Singh by a 247-vote margin to become the male district leader, while Johanna Edmonson claimed an uncontested victory for female state committee after the technical disqualification of incumbent Morgan Evers.

Meanwhile, the Unity Democratic Club celebrated a win with Abigail Martin’s re-election as female district leader, garnering 600 votes more than Emily Hausman.

Martin expressed gratitude for her re-election, but also acknowledged it was disheartening she was the only winner from her team, which, she said, “faced significant challenges, including being outspent by a large margin and contending with a disinformation campaign.”

The first challenge for the Unity team occurred in May with Evers’ disqualification from her re-election campaign due to a late attempt to correct an address typo on her filed petitions, which mistakenly listed her address as that of fellow Unity team member Stayman. Despite efforts to appeal in court, the disqualification was upheld.

Then, in mid-June, the Unity slate called out the Dinowitz Team — a nickname for the Ben Franklin candidates — for it said was a tax code violation, alleging use of Edmonson’s nonprofit organization Female Fight Club as a campaign base.

Then came a campaign flyer distributed by the Dinowitz team, which accused Ramdat Singh of being antisemitic, although Jackson had earlier written this was not the case. The flyer featured tweets liked by Singh in prior years, suggesting he supported defunding the police, used antisemitic tropes and refused to denounce the Democratic Socialists of America.

In response to a 2023 op-ed published in The Press, Jackson published his own, saying he did not accuse Singh of antisemitism and “had seen no evidence [Singh] held hateful views.”

With the campaign phase now over, the challenge lies in whether this new leadership can bridge past conflicts between the Unity and Ben Franklin Club and effectively collaborate.

If, in fact, there’s even interest in doing so.

Jackson said the number-one priority for both groups should be to work together to defeat Donald Trump and reelect President Joe Biden.

Those sentiments echoed by Martin, who said she is “fully prepared to collaborate with everyone who wants to be involved to achieve this goal” and would continue to reach out to Ben Franklin Club leadership to explore partnership opportunities on various projects. She also expressed her commitment to improving low voter turnout in the Bronx. 

While both Democratic clubs are vocally aligned in their goal to ensure a Biden victory and enhance civic participation in the community, there are varying levels of interest among leaders towards fostering local collaboration with each other.

Heller, in particular, has been skeptical of the Unity Democratic Party, telling the Press in 2022 he did not “have a clue what [Unity was] for other than being in opposition to the Ben Franklin club.”

Jackson also expressed a degree of skepticism toward the Unity club.

“I think in order for the two clubs to have a good working relationship, there needs to be some addressing of the very serious but false accusations against members of our team,” Jackson said. “These accusations will be a factor in the two groups’ relationship going forward, but I would love for us to work together and share goals, if possible and appropriate under the circumstances.”

Even if a full reconciliation is not immediately achievable, community initiatives seem to be at the forefront of both groups’ minds rather than intra-party conflicts. 

Edmonson said, since her victory, she has begun keeping a spiral-bound notebook in which she documents every community concern brought to her attention. Outside the notebook, her first order of business will be a new farmers market in Kingsbridge.

Other anticipated projects by the new leadership include Martin wanting community cleanups and beautifying projects and, Jackson’s desire to get Democrats elected up and down the ballot in November.