It was a heated meeting Wednesday evening (Feb. 12) as members of the Peekskill Democratic City Committee (PDCC) rejected its own nominating committee’s recommendation to fill an open seat on the Common Council.

Following the withdrawal of candidate Micah Benson, members held a special meeting at the BeanRunner Cafe, where a majority voted to endorse high school teacher and Peekskill Pride President Charles DeGruccio.

Three candidates asked for endorsement, including DeGruccio, Erika Ortega, and Maria Pereira, who was the nominating committee’s choice. DeGruccio received 22 votes (66.6) percent, while Pereira received nine and Ortega two.

DeGruccio said he was proud to participate in making the city a more inclusive and safe space for all walks of life, particularly the LGTBQIA+ community.

“I believe that the City of Peekskill needs a leader or leadership that listens,” DeGruccio said, “that takes action and fights for the creation of an inclusive safe space, especially during these political times.”

Former Councilwoman Mary Beth McGowan, who nominated DeGruccio, said she was prepared to nominate DeGruccio at last month’s endorsement meeting before Benson’s nomination, and thought it was important to have someone who is new to the community sit on the council, like DeGruccio.

“His leadership as president of the board of the Peekskill Pride, a local LGBT nonprofit underscores his dedication and advocacy for equality,” she said. “I believe that Charles’ breadth of experience, unwavering commitment to education and his proven leadership makes him an ideal candidate.”

Upon her nomination from the floor by a district leader, Pereira, Deputy Court Clerk at the Town of Cortlandt Justice Court, nine-year Board of Ed member, and resident of over 40 years, said she was excited to be there and felt Peekskill was moving in the right direction.

“I want to make Peekskill better than what it is,” Pereira said. “So with everybody’s help and I know a lot of you are veterans in politics… I would appreciate everybody’s assistance in processing and progressing forward.”

Ortega, a resident of almost 35 years and business administrator, said she was working on a Women, Infants and Children program that is currently under threat of budget cuts.

“We help a lot of families in the communities,” Ortega said. “And I think that’s the part that really kills me because I work with people who really need it, and not just kids and families, also seniors. They’re trying to cut all these programs and I think we can do a big change in our community.”

Some voice grievances over pick, while others say pick was best choice

Several on the committee said they felt like members were not only ignoring the work of the nominating committee but the voices of the community, particularly the Latino population, which Ortega is a part of.

Michael Bongar, a member of the nominating committee, said there was an organized effort behind the scenes to disregard their choice.

“The excuse claiming that our nominee isn’t a registered Democrat, despite past leaders like Mayor Mary Foster and Councilman Dwight Douglas facing no scrutiny,” is a double standard, said Bongar. “…Our city council does not need another rubber stamp. We need bold independent leadership (like) Pereria.”

Member Jessica Martinez said it was important to have leaders face the community that they are, saying that Peekskill’s largest ethnicity was Hispanic at 46.2 percent, according to a 2023 U.S. census.

“What I learned as being one of very few people on this committee who actually speaks Spanish in the City of Peekskill was that no one was listening to what they were saying,” Martinez said.

Several members disputed this, including Vice Chair Marta Brooks, who said she helped raise thousands of dollars and walked the streets in support of the Dominican Councilman Ramon Fernandez, who is not currently running for re-election to his Council seat as an independent or a write-in, but has made public statements indicating he is considering a run for mayor. 

Mayor Vivian McKenzie, who voted for DeGruccio, concurred with Brooks, saying the council does not ignore any population and that she has helped Hispanic women business owners get pandemic funds during Covid-19. 

“If you want to be a part of the council, it doesn’t matter what you look like,” McKenzie said. “You represent every single person in the city, whether you’re an immigrant, whether you’re Black, green, yellow, purple, whatever you are. And if you can’t do that, then you shouldn’t be on the council. It shouldn’t be that you’re coming in just to represent a certain particular segment.”

Member Brian Orsi took issue with members selecting DeGruccio to represent Pride, while at the same time disregarding the choice of the nominating committee and its chair TJ Douglas, who is trans and non-binary.

“To sit here and empower people to take leadership, to take the lead on things and then turn around and be like ‘oh, nevermind,’ we have a problem here,” Orsi said. “We haven’t been able to fill district leader seats for over a decade… And then we turn around and not actually listen to younger, newer voices here. We ignore them when we feel like it’s convenient.”

Nancy Vann, who previously ran for the county Board of Legislators in 2017, said the city had people run for council several years ago who didn’t seem completely committed to the Democratic Party.

“(They) didn’t participate in the nominating process and that was really soundly rejected,” Vann said. “That ‘No, if you want to be a Democrat and represent Democrats in the City Council, be a Democrat.’”

Democrats emphasize importance of uniting amid splintering

Committee Chair Steve Kollias, who abstained from the vote, acknowledged the high energy in the room and said they needed to use that energy to counteract rights and programs being threatened by President Donald Trump.

“We have a person in the White House who doesn’t know how to lead and we need to make sure that after this vote, no matter what happens here tonight, that we come together and we can still work together as a party,” Kollias said.

Councilwoman Kathleen Talbot said she found the discussion encouraging.

“It’s the first committee meeting that I’ve been at where I really feel that people are expressing themselves in ways, they’re very different,” Talbot said. “…I love the passion that I hear in the room and I just encourage everybody to keep coming back and being part of the committee.”

Deputy Mayor Patricia Riley said she was glad to see people stepping up to serve and that nobody in the room was an enemy.

“There’s so many important things happening that we have to be concerned about,” Riley said. “So yeah, we can argue, it’s all good, it’s America. But at the same point, when we leave this room, we should be shaking hands and saying hello to each other and not throwing snarky remarks at each other. We are all human. We all bleed blood and it’s red.”

This article was edited on February 15, to remove a clause stating Maria Pereira is Latina. Pereira is Portuguese-Indian.