Bushwick Activist Sandy Nurse Joins Race to Oust Dilan

BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN — Another candidate has joined the race to unseat Assembly Member Erik Martin Dilan.

Sandy Nurse, a Bushwick-based activist, is poised to run in the Democratic primary against the 54th Assembly District lawmaker, the Brooklyn Eagle reported Wednesday. The news comes after Boris Santo—the chief of staff for State Sen. Julia Salazar, who unseated Dilan's father, former State Sen. Martin Malave Dilan, last year—said last month that he will run to replace the younger Dilan.

The junior Dilan has represented the district—which includes Bushwick as well as East New York Cypress Hills, Brownsville and Ocean Hill—since 2015, before which he was a member of the City Council.

Nurse, who runs composting service BK ROT and is a cofounder of Mayday Space, told the Eagle that her opponent has been an absentee lawmaker.

"The work that I’ve been doing … I have never seen that work supported by the local assemblymember. I’ve never met this person," she said. “There’s an opportunity to be very, very proactive in channeling resources to the district.”

She identifies as "anti-capitalist" and, like Santos, will seek the Democratic Socialist of America's endorsement, the Eagle reported.

A campaign spokesperson for Dilan told the Eagle that he is "glad that so many people are deciding to actively participate in our democracy.

“Whether you have an established record or no record whatsoever,"the spokesperson, Tom Musich, said. "Whether you’re a new resident of the community or a long time active one.”