Velázquez Faces Threat from Two Directions

Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, the only Puerto Rican woman in Congress, has been representing New York’s Seventh Congressional District in the House of Representatives since 1992. About 43 percent of Velazquez' district, which includes parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan, is Hispanic.

But redistricting has upended the apple cart, says the Brooklyn Eagle, and Velázquez will face two challengers in the primary -- economist/businessman Dan O'Connor and Councilman Erik Dilan.

O'Connor, a political unknown, lived in China for six years, worked for an economic think tank in Hong Kong, and speaks both Mandarin and Cantonese fluently. About 20 percent of the district is now Chinese, he told the Eagle.

Councilman Eric Martin Dilan's father, Martin Malave Dilan, was born in Puerto Rico and is a New York State Senator, according to New American Media. The new district includes an area with a high Jewish population, where the Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair and an ally of Dilan, Vito Lopez, is powerful.

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