Ritchie J. Torres has officially declared victory in the Bronx for the Democratic Primary with 19,090 votes according to New York Times tracking. He ran for the seat in congress that represents the 15th district located in the Bronx that has neighborhoods such as Mott Haven, Hunts Point, HighBridge, Melrose and more along the East River. The seat was given up by Rep. Jose E. Serrano who will now be going in to retirement.
Torres was up against many other candidates, one popular candidate being Michael Blake and another being the infamous Ruben Diaz Sr. who is known to have very conservative beliefs but runs within the Democratic party. Diaz has made many homophobic comments and has spoken out against abortion many times. But he was unsuccessful as he lost to an openly gay man and did not even receive half the votes Ritchie did coming in at 8,559 votes.
This was a very long wait for him to declare victory because the Primary was held in June but due to a massive amount of absentee votes waiting to be counted, the official results came in towards the end of July. Torres had a huge lead since June as well but he waited to declare victory because he felt that all of the ballots had to be counted first. He officially declared victory via Twitter on August 4th.
The journey to Torres' victory was a very long one. His campaign message consisted of him pushing his story. Growing up in a low-income home, Torres appealed to voters by saying he understood the disadvantages and struggles of the working people and that his experience would serve him in the fight to protect and serve the people's interests in Congress.
According to the official New York City Council Website, Torres was elected to the New York City Council in November 2013 for the 15th. District. He oversaw the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) where he enacted legislation to improve the safety and quality of life for NYCHA Residents. In 2017, he was elected to the chair of oversight and Investigations Committee for his second term where he investigated matters with the council's jurisdiction concerning property, affairs, or government of New York City.
His victories include protecting the city's affordable housing stock, improving mental health resources for the LGBT Community of New York City, tackling NYC's opioid epidemic, and reforming NYPD - Residence relationships.
He will now be running against Republican Orlando Molina in November. Be sure to congratulate our brother and root for him in the upcoming months.
For more info visit: https://www.torres.nyc/