Thunderous applause followed Stefani Zinerman’s announcement last night at The Weeksville Heritage Center in Crown Heights that she is throwing her hat into the 56th Assembly District Primary race.
The seat opened up recently when it’s current holder Assemblywoman Tremaine Wright (D-Bedford-Stuyvesant, Northern Crown Heights) announced she is running for retiring State Sen. Velmanette Montogomery‘s (D-Fort Greene, Boerum Hill, Red Hook, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Sunset Park, Gowanus, Park Slope) senate seat.
And Wright sat right in the front of the crowd and clapped along loudly with everyone to show her support for Zinerman.
“I support Stefani Zinerman fully and totally because she is going to win and she knows what she is doing,” she told Kings County Politics before getting up to address the crowd, saying, “We need someone who understands us and will take our voice up to Albany to reflect our voice in policy. That’s what we have in Stefani- someone who will amplify our voice.”
Wright is not the only one who thinks that way. The Weeksville museum, which is dedicated to preserving the history of the 19th century African American community of Weeksville, Brooklyn, was packed with people there to support Zinerman.
Many knew Stefani from her position as chair of the Age-Friendly initiative, a program that helps local leaders prepare and better their communities for elderly people. One woman, Donna Williams, who is ambassador for the Age-Friendly chapter in Bed-Stuy, let KCP know exactly what she thought of Zinerman.
“What I like about her is how smart and knowledgeable she is. She is also well connected to the community and has a really good heart. She knows what we need,” said Williams.
Zinerman also had the endorsement of the Vanguard Independent Democratic Association (VIDA) where she is an executive board member. At the event to acknowledge this was one of VIDA’s founder and former Assembly and City Council Member Dr. Albert Vann. Vann started off his speech in an unconventional manner, noting that former presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney (DUT) came to his mind when thinking about what to say,
“He stands out as a man of integrity and faith,” he said, eventually connecting it to why this came to mind when thinking of Zinerman. “What is the one thing that’s the most significant when we look for someone to represent us? Is it their money? Or their intellect? Or that they know a lot of people? It’s character. A person of integrity and a person where, when we go to sleep at night we know they’ll represent us. I’ve had an opportunity to see Stefani engaged in our community and it’s like she was preparing without knowing where the road will end.”
Montgomery was also in the house to say a few words.
“This is not just an endorsement but a promise that we’re gonna deliver her [Zinerman] because we believe in her and need her,” she said.
