New York City
Four Candidates Vie For City’s 8th District, One Seeks Re-election
Big differences in money raised for the campaign separate the candidates in the 8th district, which includes neighborhoods in Manhattan and the South Bronx.
The 8th Council District and the four candidates vying in its Democratic primary, clockwise from top left: incumbent Diana Ayala, Manuel Onativia, Antoinette D. Glover and Tamika Map. NYC GIS, NYC Council, NYC CFB, Glover & Onativia campaigns
The 2021 primary elections are just around the corner, and when it comes to City Council races, the spotlight is on the 28 seats (26 held by Democrats and two by Republicans) for which there are open races thanks to term limits. However, in the city’s other 23 districts, incumbents are seeking reelection, and some of them also face primary challenges. Such is the case in District 8, where Diana Ayala is seeking a second term against three candidates: Antoinette D. Glover, Tamika Mapp and Manuel Onativia.
Ayala was born in Puerto Rico and has worked in the community for more than 20 years. She worked as a senior-center director in East Harlem and then moved on to join former City Councilmember and Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, for whom she worked for more than a decade, first as constituent services director and later as deputy chief of staff.
NEXT STORY: The race for Queens Council District 22, the next phase of Astoria's political evolution