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Longshot Democratic gubernatorial candidate – Long Island Rep. Tom Suozzi – on Wednesday tapped former Brooklyn Councilwoman Diana Reyna to be his Lieutenant Governor running mate on Wednesday.
“She’s smart. She’s experienced. She’s tough. She’s been through a lot of different things in her life that have brought her to this point. We’re making history,” said Suozzi in Williamsburg ahead of introducing his pick for No. 2 on the ticket.
“This is an opportunity for us to partner together to get New York back on track.”
Reyna said she supports amending New York’s bail reform laws, including adding a “dangerousness” standard permitting judges to consider whether to release a defendant from custody.
“New York doesn’t need to move to the left and it doesn’t need to move to the right. New York needs to move forward,” she said.
Reyna, 48, represented the 34th council district from 2001 until 2013 – including parts of Williamsburg, Bushwick and Ridgewood, Queens.
She then served as a deputy Brooklyn borough president until 2017, under then-Brooklyn Borough President, NYC Mayor Eric Adams.
Reyna was also chief of staff to known-sexual harasser, Brooklyn’s ex-Assemblyman Vito Lopez, who was accused of harassing his aides and then fined hundreds of thousands of dollars following a quiet settlement deal. He ended up resigning in 2013.
Her husband is also a Lieutenant in the NYPD and she has two teenage sons.
Suozzi said it was important that he partnered with a woman of color – as Reyna is a first generation Dominican American and the first woman of Dominican descent elected to public office in the state.
“This can only happen in America. I want to help New Yorkers to keep that American dream alive,” she said.
If the pair is successful, Reyna would be the first Latina elected to statewide office.
But Suozzi likely won’t capture the 25 percent of support delegates necessary to get his name on the ballot at the upcoming Democratic Committee’s Nominating Convention, slated to kick off today through Thursday.
He plans to petition his way onto the ballot to run against Gov. Kathy Hochul – who is expected to clinch the Democratic party’s nomination.
But the pol asked Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs to automatically grant him and NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams the 25 percent qualifying threshold and spare them the petitioning process, in a letter obtained by The Post Tuesday.
Jacobs rejected that request.
“They have had every opportunity to earn the support of State Committee members. Apparently they have not been successful in gaining the support of even one out of every four members,” he said.
“I will not do for them what they have failed to do for themselves. My getting them the votes would run counter to their call for ‘transparency’ as it would give people the impression that they had the support of members who clearly did not really support them.”
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