Candidates from left to right: Kimberly Council, Rick Echevarria, Sandy Nurse, Darma Diaz, and Misba Abdin

Darma Diaz has been keeping busy on Facebook. When a Brooklyn resident told her in the comments section of a status update, that they knew someone who was sick with COVID-19 earlier last week, Diaz immediately told them to give her a call. When someone else asked if there would be any delivery service for fruits and vegetables in East New York, Diaz instructed her to DM her directly. Her personal page has become a small map of how the pandemic has touched the motley collection of north and central Brooklyn neighborhoods that make up the New York City Council’s 37th District.

In the midst of the current shutdown and behind the walls of doors that now only open for emergencies, there is an election happening in Brooklyn. And Diaz wants to win. She is a central figure among the collection of political personalities who have crowded the race to fill an unoccupied seat on the New York City Council.