When newly elected Assembly members Vanessa Gibson (D-Bronx) and Marcos Crespo (D-Bronx) reflect on their first week on the job—a week that was marked by unprecedented confusion in the upper house—both pause for a second before answering.

“Hectic,” Gibson tactfully described it.

“A rollercoaster,” said Crespo. “I don’t know that you can put [it] into words.”

The Senate gridlock has thrown many of the priorities they hoped to get started on into disarray, with both left wondering.

“My main concern is the mayoral control, because we have a deadline,” Gibson said.

Crespo says that mayoral control is front and center on his docket in the meantime as well.

“I’m most concerned that it’ll simply expire,” he said. “Worst-case scenario is that we go back to the old system.”

Both came up through the ranks of Bronx Democratic politics.

Until she won election this month, Gibson, 30, had served as district office manager for Aurelia Greene, who vacated her seat to become Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr.’s deputy. Gibson spent her entire career in Greene’s office, starting as an intern in the Albany office while still an undergraduate at SUNY Albany.

Given her long history with the district she now represents, Gibson said catching up on the relevant issues has been the easy part of her transition. The hard part has been learning to delegate responsibilities she held until recently and getting up to speed on the Assembly’s legislative agenda.

“I sometimes feel a little overwhelmed,” Gibson said.

She said her top priority for now is working on housing issues.

“I have always advocated for mixed-income neighborhoods,” she explained, saying that the key was to find something that would lure middle-income families to previously neglected neighborhoods. “You need services that will attract people.”

She said another priority is increasing technological literacy among young people in her district, and said she would like to open community Internet centers there.

Crespo, meanwhile, is navigating his way through his own transition from staffer to elected official.

“I knew there would be a lot of work,” he said. “If there was any hope of working less than a staff member, that’s not true.”

Crespo said his guide is State Sen. Ruben Diaz, Sr., whom he worked under for the past five years.

“Diaz was a great role model for me,” said Crespo.

Crespo majored in government at John Jay College, but says he did not harbor longtime ambitions of running for office.

“I can’t say until the last day of the election this was anything I envisioned or planned for,” he said.

One big shift, he says, is remembering he speaks for himself now, rather than someone else. “I still think as a staff member.”

His top legislative priorities, besides mayoral control, include housing issues, environmental justice and health care. He also feels strongly about higher education issues.

“If it weren’t for SEEK [Search for Education Elevation and Knowledge] or TAP [Tuition Assistance Program], I wouldn’t have gone to college,” Crespo said. “And god knows I wouldn’t be here today.”

Crespo and Gibson were helped in their election by the Bronx County Democratic Party, which under its new leadership was swift in installing Diaz’s and Greene’s replacements. Both had their fields cleared for them in their June 2 special elections.

Patrick Jenkins, special assistant to Bronx Democratic Chairman Carl Heastie, praised them both for coming up through the ranks and said he had high hopes for where they would go next.

“In terms of members, we’ve gained two new members into the movement,” Jenkins said. “I think they’re both visionary.”

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ABOVE: Marcos Crespo and Vanessa Gibson, newly elected to fill two vacant Bronx seats, both said they are eager to take on the issues before the end of session. Photo by Andrew Schwartz