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Political journalists Julianne Cuba, reporter for the Brooklyn Paper and Brooklyn Daily covering south Brooklyn( left) and Ted Hamm, chair of the department for journalism and new media at St. Joseph's College.
In less than three months, registered New York City Republicans and Democrats will vote in the 2017. Well, at least some of them will. With little buzz so far about the mayoral matchups and relatively few officeholders facing term limits, this election year hasn’t generated a lot of excitement.
But there are key races in several Brooklyn districts. As expected, the two districts where incumbents must yield their seats thanks to term limit have drawn crowded fields of would-be replacements. But surprisingly, at least four incumbents appear to face real challenges. In what is expected to be a low turnout year, a couple thousand votes is all an insurgent might need to win an upset victory. And that could significantly affect the face of the Council, the race to be the next speaker and the kind of legislature the current or future mayor has to deal with.
On June 15’s BkLive,I was joined by political journalists Ted Hamm, chair of the department for journalism and new media at St. Joseph’s College and editor of the recent “Frederick Douglass in Brooklyn” and Julianne Cuba, reporter for the Brooklyn Paper and Brooklyn Daily covering south Brooklyn, to discuss where the races stand and what they mean.
A rundown of the races
Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Crown Heights,
Prospect Heights, Bedford Stuyvesant
Incumbent: Laurie A. Cumbo
Other Candidates:
Jabari Brisport
Ede S. Fox
Scott A. Hutchins
Christine Parker
* * * *
Red Hook, Sunset Park, Windsor Terrace
Incumbent: Carlos Menchaca
Other Candidates:
Sara M. Gonzalez
Carmen V. Hulbert
Chris Q. Miao
Javier A. Nieves
Delvis Valdes
* * * *
Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Kensington, Midwood, Prospect Park, and Prospect Lefferts Gardens
Incumbent: Mathieu Eugene
Other Candidates:
Jennifer M. Berkley,
Brian-Christoph A. Cunningham
Pia Raymond
Rose G. Saint Albord
* * * *
Bedford-Stuyvesant, Ocean Hill-Brownsville, East Flatbush, Crown Heights
Incumbent: Darlene Mealy (term-limited)
Candidates:
Alicka Ampry-Samuel
Royston Antoine
Henry Butler
Leopold W. Cox
Kathleen Daniel
John Grant
Moreen A. King
Deidre L. Olivera
Cory Provost
Victor Jordan
Jamell N. Henderson
* * * *
Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach
Incumbent: Vincent Gentile (term-limited)
Candidates:
Justin L. Brannan
Robert P. Capano
Kevin Peter Carroll
Vincenzo Chirico
Khader El-Yateem
Liam A. McCabe
John Quaglione
Lucretia Regina-Potter
Nancy Tong
* * * *
Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach, Sheepshead Bay, Homecrest, Trump Village, Luna Park, Brightwater Towers, Midwood
Incumbent: Chaim M. Deutsch
Other Candidates:
Marat Filler
Steven Saperstein
Kalman Yeger
3 thoughts on “Video: An Early Look at Brooklyn’s Contested Council Races”
Uproses’s comment aside, much of the opposition to Menchaca is not from people saying he’s not standing up to Developers but that he doesn’t lay down easily enough. Look at his opposition, and blocking , of the nursing home in Red Hook.
Community Board 6 approves it, healthcare union 1199 supports it, NYCHA tenant associations(red hook east & west) supports it. In same vein ,with waterfront development, he manages to piss off both Seddio and Mayor(unless I missed it nobody mentioned he lost the chair of brooklyn delegation in this discussion) which leaves him with 1 major source of support- Congresswoman Velasquez. Obviously that is big but we’ll see if it’s enough.
Also, bad job by City limits not having Felix Ortiz listed as a candididate in that race.
Ted Ham saved this discussion with at least some knowledge of “tribal” rivalries.
Jack, we list all the candidates who are listed by the New York City Campaign Finance Board. That allows us to apply a consistent standard across districts and candidates and to avoid having to decide who is “really” running versus who is merely the subject of a rumor, or mulling a run or doing something short of actually running. Thanks for reading.
Ortiz opened up a committee https://www.google.com/amp/blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/275351/assemblyman-felix-ortiz-latest-to-eye-nyc-council-run/amp/
And his staffer is posting Ortiz’s city council lit on social media- https://www.facebook.com/groups/284661318406663/permalink/650225668516891/