Adriano Espaillat: el primer congresista de origen dominicano” en le congreso de EEUU

Espaillat: Voy a ser el primer miembro del Congreso que fue una vez inmigrante indocumentado

Habló en inglés y español en una comparecencia de un minuto y fue largamente aplaudido por los participantes

NUEVA YORK. El senador estatal de Nueva York, Adriano Espaillat, dijo en un breve discurso en la Convención Nacional Demócrata en Filadelfia, que su elección atemoriza a Donald Trump, y afirmó que para él “será un honor ser el primer congresista de origen dominicano” que fue un inmigrante indocumentado.

Espaillat, ganador de las primarias demócratas para representar al distrito 13 de la ciudad en la cámara baja del Congreso federal, habló en inglés y español en una comparecencia de un minuto y fue largamente aplaudido por los participantes en la Convención.

El dominicano, nativo de Santiago de los Caballeros, provincia de República Dominicana, y el primer exinmigrante indocumentado en llegar a la alta posición legislativa federal, pidió a los demócratas de Estados Unidos mantenerse unidos y fuertes para elegir a Hillary Clinton como la próxima presidenta en las elecciones de noviembre.

“Para mí será un honor ser el primer congresista de origen dominicano y el primero en este país, que fue inmigrante indocumentado”, dijo Espaillat siendo coreado por cientos de asistentes al acto.

“A Donald Trump, esto le da miedo. Para Hillary Clinton y Tim Kaine es inspirador, con nuestro apoyo, vamos a elegir a Hillary y a Tim y seremos vencedores, porque en la unión está la fuerza”, dijo Espaillat.

Y concluyó su discurso con la arenga de “¿se puede, se puede, se puede?, a la respuesta de “¡sí!, contestó con el lema de su campaña al congreso “Es pa´lla que vamos...”.

Adriano Espaillat, primer dominicano en

 llegar al congreso de EE.UU.

WASHINGTON, Estados Unidos.-   El asambleísta Adriano Espaillat se convertiría este martes en el primer dominicano en ingresar al congreso de los Estados Unidos por el distrito 13 de Nueva York,  al alcanzar un 36.2 % para las elecciones legislativas de es país.

Con el 96 % de los votos computados, Espaillat se erige como el virtual ganador de estos comicios,  al alcanzar  un total de 15,374 votos registrados hasta el momento.

Su más cercano contendor es Keith Wright, quien obtuvo un 34.7 %.

Adriano Espaillat Is in Position to Replace Rangel and Become First Dominican in Congress

New York Times By WILLIAM NEUMANJUNE 29, 2016

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Photo

State Assemblyman Keith L.T. Wright addressed his supporters at the Minisink Townhouse in Harlem on Tuesday. CreditVictor J. Blue for The New York Times

State Senator Adriano D. Espaillat was poised on Tuesday to take a historic step toward becoming the first Dominican-American elected to Congress, holding what appeared to be an insurmountable lead in the Democratic primary to replace Representative Charles B. Rangel.

Mr. Espaillat declared victory with a lead of more than 1,000 votes with 97 percent of the scanners reported, but State Assemblyman Keith L.T. Wright, who was running second, refused to concede and demanded that absentee and affidavit ballots be counted. Mr. Wright, who was endorsed by Mr. Rangel, also claimed that there had been irregularities in the voting, although he did not give specifics.

If Mr. Espaillat, who led Mr. Wright 36.7 percent to 33.8 percent, wins the primary, he would be virtually assured of winning the seat, representing Upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx, in the general election in November because of the district’s overwhelmingly Democratic registration.

A victory by Mr. Espaillat would realize a long-sought goal of the so-called Dominican diaspora, which began to take root here in large numbers after the United States invaded the Caribbean nation in 1965. Many landed in Washington Heights, where the streets became outposts of the towns left behind.

The outcome could also be a turning point for Harlem, at the heart of the 13th District. Once the center of black political power in New York, should Mr. Espaillat be elected it would be the first time in more than seven decades that the neighborhood would not be represented in Washington by an African-American.

“Voters from throughout the 13th Congressional District elected a country boy from Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic to be the nominee of the Democratic Party,” Mr. Espaillat said to a raucous crowd. “So from Harlem to East Harlem, from Washington Heights, from Inwood to the Northwest Bronx, I want to thank all the voters that cast their votes in support of this historic candidacy.”

Addressing his fellow immigrants and their offspring, he said, “We are Washington Heights and we stand on a hill and on any given day, on a bad day we can see that lady in the harbor. We can see her with a torch in her hand.” He added, “This is an American story.”

Mr. Wright, at a gathering in Harlem, was defiant: “Suffice it to say, this campaign ain’t over.” He added, “No candidate can declare victory tonight, not until every vote is counted. This race is further complicated by the real possibility of a lot of camp irregularities and voter suppression.”

A win by Mr. Espaillat would be a sharp disappointment for Mr. Rangel, 86, who is retiring after nearly half a century in Congress. Mr. Rangel is no fan of Mr. Espaillat, who ran against him in primaries in 2012 and 2014.

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State Senator Adriano D. Espaillat, a Democrat, spoke at 809 Bar and Grill in Inwood, Manhattan, after the results of the vote had come in on Tuesday. CreditChristopher Lee for The New York Times

In interviews before the election, Mr. Rangel resisted discussing the possibility that the district he had represented for so long might no longer be represented by an African-American.

“Can you tell the people in Boston that some day you won’t have an Irish congressman?” he said. “I don’t want to talk about it and it can’t happen now that’s for damn sure.”

Mr. Espaillat’s apparent victory came even though another well-known Dominican-American politician was on the ballot, threatening to split the vote in the Dominican community. That candidate, State Assemblyman Guillermo Linares, is a longstanding rival of Mr. Espaillat’s and is allied with Mr. Rangel and Mr. Wright.

In the end, Mr. Linares received only about 5 percent of the vote, not enough to keep Mr. Espaillat from crossing the finish line first.

Instead Mr. Wright likely was hurt by a fragmenting of the black vote. The three other black candidates in the race received more than 20 percent. Among them, Clyde Williams, a former Democratic National Committee official, ran third with 10 percent. Adam Clayton Powell IV, the son of Mr. Rangel’s predecessor, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., who was expected to benefit from his famous name, synonymous with postwar Harlem, got about 6 percent.

Cheering Espaillat supporters took to the streets of Washington Heights, much as they might when celebrating an election in the Dominican Republic.

Outside the 809 Bar & Grill, where Mr. Espaillat’s supporters gathered, drivers honked car horns and a crowd cheered. “We made it!” the crowd chanted in Spanish.

“It was time to take Washington Heights to Washington D.C.,” said Michelle Minguez. “This is history in the making.”

The close race echoed the last two primaries in the district, when Mr. Espaillat lost to Mr. Rangel. In 2012, Mr. Espaillat took two weeks to concede, after initially going to court to block the results over reports that some Spanish-speaking voters encountered difficulties at voting stations. In 2014 he waited two days to concede, saying the contest was too close to call.

In the general election Mr. Espaillat would run against the Republican candidate, Tony Evans, an African-American lawyer based in Harlem.

The congressional district held by Mr. Rangel was originally drawn up in the 1940s to make it possible for Harlem’s black population to choose a representative to send to Congress.