Diana Ayala

Diana Ayala served on the New York City Council from 2018 to 2026, representing District 8 in East Harlem and parts of the South Bronx, including as Deputy Speaker. Before that she worked at a senior center and as a deputy chief of staff to Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. She won the June 2026 Democratic primary for the open Assembly District 68 seat over incumbent Eddie Gibbs and is running on affordability, housing, mental health care, immigrant protections and workers' rights.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

According to Wikipedia, Ayala was born in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico, in 1973 and moved to New York City with her family as a child, and her campaign website describes her as a lifelong New Yorker and the daughter of Puerto Rican parents.[7][4] She earned a degree in human services from Bronx Borough Community College and studied sociology at CUNY Herbert H. Lehman College; her campaign website describes her as a graduate of both institutions.[2][3] Before elected office, Ayala worked as a program director at the Carver Senior Center, a caseworker at Corsi Houses, and constituent-services director and then deputy chief of staff to Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito.[2]

In 2017 Ayala ran for the open District 8 Council seat when Mark-Viverito was term-limited, winning the Democratic primary over Robert Rodriguez, then an Assemblymember, and three other candidates, and the general election over Republican and Conservative candidates.[2][7] She represented the district from January 2018 until January 2026 and was re-elected in 2021 and 2023.[2] In the Council she chaired the General Welfare Committee and the Mental Health, Disabilities and Addictions Committee, according to her campaign website, and City & State reports she served as deputy speaker under Speaker Adrienne Adams for the last four years of her tenure after briefly running for speaker herself.[3][5] As General Welfare chair, she says she helped expand the CityFHEPS rental-assistance voucher program and worked to create and preserve affordable housing in the district, and that she helped secure major capital investments for Metropolitan Hospital in East Harlem.[3]

In February 2026 Ayala filed to run for Assembly District 68 against incumbent Assemblymember Eddie Gibbs, and on June 23, 2026 she won the Democratic primary with 51.9% of the vote to Gibbs' 31.2%; she also holds the Working Families Party line.[5][6][1] According to Wikipedia, she lives in East Harlem and has four children and three grandchildren.[7]

Researched from the cited sources on 2026-10-21.