In a twist of events this election season, Assemblymember Inez Dickens has decided to retire from her long-held Harlem seat in the 70th Assembly District and Assemblymember Latoya Joyner abruptly resigned from the 77th Assembly District in the Bronx.
This Monday, Jan. 22, Dickens announced that she would be retiring at the “end of this year” and would not seek re-election. Dickens had followed in the footsteps of her father, the late Assemblymember Lloyd E. Dickens, and her uncle, the late Assemblymember and state Supreme Court Justice Thomas K. Dickens. She served on the City Council in Harlem from 2006 to 2017 and in the assembly for the last seven years.
“It has been a humbling journey to work as a servant leader in city and state government with the longevity I have experienced,” said Dickens in a statement. “I was blessed with the fortitude to make a visible and lasting impact on individuals, families, neighborhoods, and institutions in my beloved village of Harlem. The job of fighting for the underprivileged, under-resourced, and under-represented does not end with my retirement. As I close this chapter of my life, the story is not over.”
Her campaign said that Dickens, 75, has been contemplating retirement for a while, especially since her kidney transplant in 2022. Despite that, Dickens still found last year’s run and loss in Harlem’s City Council race invigorating, said her campaign.
Before the news of her retirement, Dickens had three candidates vying for her seat in the upcoming June primaries: Shana Harmongoff, Maria Ordonez, Joshua Clennon, Alpheaus E. Marcus, and most recently Jordan Wright, the son of Manhattan Democratic Party leader Keith Wright.
Clennon said in a social media post, “For years, her voice has resonated through the streets of Harlem, echoing the deep commitment of her father, Assemblymember Lloyd Dickens, to uplift Black and brown communities. Inez has been more than a public servant, she has been a guardian of Harlem’s soul, tirelessly working to ensure our local organizations and nonprofits have spaces they need to thrive.”
Dickens’ campaign said that her retirement had nothing to do with the candidates who had announced they were running against her.
On January 4, Joyner, 37, announced that she was leaving office.
Joyner chaired the Assembly Labor Committee and was a member of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, & Asian Legislative and Legislative Women’s caucuses. She had been in office since 2015. In a social media post, she said she’s closing this “chapter” of her life after careful consideration and will be “pursuing an exciting new opportunity” that will allow her to continue serving the community and state.
“I’m grateful for the extraordinary service Latoya has performed for her constituents and our state,” said Governor Kathy Hochul in a statement. “I wish her luck as she embarks on a new journey, and I look forward to working with the next representative to deliver for New York.”
Hochul finally set the date for the special election to replace Joyner on Tuesday, Feb. 13. The Bronx County Committee has already unanimously nominated Vice Chair and attorney Landon Dais to run in the special election.
A New York native, Dais is a dedicated community leader, legal expert, and advocate for social justice, with a deep-rooted commitment to the Highbridge community. He said he didn’t have plans to run before Joyner resigned and is thankful for the chance to represent the district. He wants to address housing and food insecurity, as well as build cleaner and safer neighborhoods.
“I’m not taking the special election for granted,” said Dais. “I’m going to knock on doors. I’m going to phone-bank. I’m going to engage the youth and the seniors and everyone in between. My goal is to make sure the 77th has a representative that is going to fight for them in Albany.”
[UPDATED: FRIDAY, JAN 26]
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member who writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.