In Washington Heights, 4 Mayoral Candidates Woo Hispanics Mayoral candidates attended a ceremony on Wednesday in Washington Heights to name a portion of Broadway after a Dominican man who is believed to be the first non-Indian New Yorker. In a sign of the critical role Hispanic voters are expected to play in the mayoral race this year, four candidates for the office went to the Washington Heights section of Manhattan on Wednesday to attend a ceremony to name a section of Broadway after a Dominican man who is thought to have been New York's first non-Indian settler. In 1613, 12 years before the Dutch founded New Amsterdam, Juan Rodriguez is believed to have arrived in what is now New York City, according to a report published last year by the Dominican Studies Institute at City College of the City University of New York. A free black man, he sailed from San Domingo, now Santo Domingo, with a Dutch sea captain, then remained here, most likely mastering the Indian language and setting up a trading post. Prompted by the report's publication, the City Council last year passed legislation to honor him with a section of Broadway, from 159th Street in Washington Heights to 218th Street in Inwood. The renaming legislation was sponsored by another Rodriguez, Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, apparently no relation. The ceremony on Wednesday gave mayoral candidates a chance to burnish their ties to Hispanic voters, who could make up as much as a fifth of the electorate in the Democratic primary and the general election this fall. Mr. Carrión, who is running on the Independence Party line and has had difficulty raising money, is the only Hispanic candidate of note in the race - he is of Puerto Rican descent. There is also a little-known Democratic candidate, a minister named Erick Salgado. As a result, the Hispanic vote is largely up for grabs. The audience on Wednesday was largely Dominican, including Dominican-flag-waving teenagers and elegantly dressed women. Councilman Rodriguez began by alluding to the glut of mayoral candidates who had turned up, noting that some would speak early because they had to leave - "probably to a mayoral debate," he joked. Ms. Quinn, a Democrat, drew scattered cheers when she invoked the effort to pass immigration legislation in Washington. "We can send a message to Washington that the greatness of New York comes from the fact that we are and were and will always be an immigrant city," she said. Mr. Thompson, also a Democrat, drew connections between his own family history and the story of Juan Rodriguez. "The first immigrant a black man from the Dominican Republic?" he said. When I look at it, my grandparents came here from St. Kitts, from the Caribbean. If it wasn't for them, the Thompsons wouldn't be here. If it wasn't for immigrants, this would not be a great city. Mr. de Blasio, another Democrat, began his remarks in Spanish, greeting his "hermanos y hermanas," then went on to praise the city's Dominican population, saying that "everyone in this city has to be taught the contributions of Dominican Americans." He cited an opinion article he had written that was published in The Daily News, calling on the state to pass legislation to allow illegal immigrants to receive driver's licenses and for the city to create a municipal identification card, so that illegal immigrants could more easily access social services. After Mr. de Blasio finished, a city councilwoman, Diana Reyna, took the microphone, and Mr. Carrión, who had waited patiently, seemed to wonder if he had lost his turn and started to leave, before being called back. When Mr. Rodriguez finally ushered him to the podium, he spoke entirely in Spanish, alluding to the coming election and urging Hispanics to make their power felt. Noting that only a fraction of the city's Hispanic voters tended to vote, Mr. Carrión said, "The moment of awakening has arrived for our community."