NYC Council: Brooklyn Primaries 2023 (updated)
Early voting in this year's primaries to elect or reelect our most local reps starts on June 17, with in-person voting on June 27. If you are a registered voter, you should have received a voter guide from the city, spelling out the who, what, where, and when (or go to nycvotes.org), including an explainer of the ranked-choice system. The latter will only matter in one or maybe two primary races in Brooklyn as most are uncontested, and in the others, it's one or maybe two challengers.
No primaries or serious Republican challenges in Districts 33 - Lincoln Restler, 35 - Crystal Hudson, 36 - Chi Osse, 37 - Sandy Nurse, 38 - Alexa Aviles, 39 - Shahana Hanif, 40 - Rita Joseph, 41 - Darlene Mealy, 45 - Farah Louis, and 46 - Mercedes Narcisse, all Democrats, will almost certainly be reelected in November.
(Updated to note that Treyger has Not endorsed Kagan in the race for 47 - the Not was missing in the original post.)
District 34
District 34 - Councilmember Jennifer Gutierrez has a nominal Democratic primary from Paperboy Prince. She will win easily.
District 41
Now, in District 41, Darlene Mealy (D) is being challenged by Reginald Bowman and Isis McIntosh Green, and there is a chance McIntosh Green could unseat the councilmember who has missed a third of council meetings, including being the only one to miss the budget vote last year.
Her track record was similarly abysmal the last time she served in the council, but she did beat Alicka Ampry-Samuel in the last election, not least, some say, because she literally drove voters to the polls.
Isis McIntosh Green was Chief-of-Staff and Policy Director for Assemblywoman Latrice Walker, and the Brooklyn Tech alum most recently served as Deputy co-Executive Director for the New York State Independent Redistricting Commission. She has received endorsements from the Working Families Party, City and State reports, and the NYC Carpenters Union.
She has raised three times as much in private donations as Mealy, though her public matching funds had not yet come in as of May 26 reporting date, and they may have similar amounts to spend. She has the endorsements of former Assemblywoman Latrice Walker and Assemblymember Brian Cunningham.
District 42
In District 42 - East New York - Chris Banks is challenging Charles Barron (D) again.
Charles Barron and his wife Inez have represented the district for the last 20 years, trading seats between Assembly and City Council as term limits permit, and the former Black Panther has solid name recognition in the district. He touts affordable housing, but the district is best known for high concentration of shelters and crime.
Nikki Lucas took over the Assembly seat in the last election, and there is a chance that with her support Chris Banks, a longtime community activist and president of the 75th Precinct Council, will win this one. Banks argues that it's time for change that can bring real progress on the issues that matter to the district.
Brian Lehrer talked to Barron about the district in October 2022, and NY1 interviewed both Banks and Barron for this excellent piece. Both Banks and Barron have raised similar amounts and had similar amounts to spend leading to the primaries.
District 43:
District 43, currently under Councilmember Justin Brannan, was redrawn completely during the redistricting and is one of two really interesting ones this June. It was carved out to give the Asian community residing in Bensonhurst and Sunset Park more power and is seeing open primaries for both Democratic and Republican nominations. It is not a sure bet that a Democrat will win come November, and if it does, the representative is unlikely to be from the progressive end of the democratic party. I looked at it in more detail in this story. (Brannan's residence is now in what will be District 47 - see below.)
Democrats: Wai Yee Chan, Stanley Ng, and Susan Zhuang are all running on public safety and good schools. Chan is a former staffer of Councilmember Justin Brannan, and Zhuang is Assemblymember William Colton's Chief of Staff. Ng has a strong track record of advocating for students on the city's education councils and supporting specialized high schools.
Republicans: Vito LaBella and Ying Tan will face off over the same issues.
District 44
District 44 - Boro Park- is seeing Heshy Tischler challenge Kalman Yeger (R), who is certain to be reelected for what will be his last term in office due to term limits. The district is almost entirely Orthodox Jewish.
District 47: Updated
District 47 was significantly redrawn to accommodate the new District 43 and now includes Bay Ridge, Bath Beach, and Coney Island, with a narrow sliver of Dyker Heights connecting the two.
On the Democratic side, there is no primary, and whoever wins among the Republicans will challenge current Bay Ridge Councilmember Justin Brannan in November in what is fully expected to be another close election.
Currently, the district is represented by Ari Kagan, a first-time council member originally from Belarus who switched parties from Democrat to Republican last December.
Kagan has a near-ubiquitous presence and long track record in the community, albeit mostly as a Democrat. The redrawn district keeps its diverse southern end, and that could play to his advantage, though he still has to win in Bay Ridge where he is less well known. In addition to representing it himself, Kagan also worked for his predecessor, former Councilmember Mark Treyger. (Treyger has not and does not have any plans of endorsing Kagan in this race.) Kagan has so far out-raised his opponents, but is facing scrutiny over having a weekly show on Davidzon Radio.
He is being challenged by Anna Belfiore-Delfaus, daughter of Italian immigrants, a Bensonhurst native, and a former public school special education teacher who's currently a stay-at-home mom to her three young kids. Avery Pereira, another teacher, is also in the race; however, Belfiore-Delfaus and Kagan are the main players.
Belfiore-Delfaus has faced some hit pieces in the Daily News on her background as a public school teacher – which seems to me pulled out of some rather thin air. She is very pro-NYPD, but more importantly, she has District 48 Councilmember Inna Vernikov's support. Her Italian heritage could serve her well in the Bay Ridge and Bath Beach areas, while Vernikov's support may help deliver the Russian-speakers in the southern end of the district.
The district has 174,000 residents, just under half White and 20% Asian. When it comes to voters, of the 109,000 that are eligible, 56% are White, 18% Hispanic, 16% Asian, and 10% Black, and just under 17,000 are registered as Republicans.
District 48
In District 48, Igor Kazatsker is challenging Councilmember Inna Vernikov (R), but I just don't see it happening. Both are Ukrainian-born Jews from two very different generations, but Vernikov has the distinct advantage of having firmly established herself as a very capable representative in her predominantly Jewish and Asian district, in no small way thanks to her staff and her pro-law-and-order attitude whether it comes to towing cars, or helping set up Asian security patrols, getting streets cleaned up, or logging constituent requests as the city requires – something every other Brooklyn councilmember claimed was borderline impossible to do. All she's promising is more of the same.
Igor Kazatsker says he's not running against someone: "I am going “for” - for you, my future voters, for the safety and cleanliness of our streets, for the prosperity of small businesses, for order in our schools and homes in which you live!" The former engineer had a hard time adjusting to life in America, working odd jobs, after immigrating in 2000, and says it's an asset in his campaign - he's seen the hardships firsthand.
I also expect Vernikov to beat Amber Adler (D), the Democratic Nominee, come November.
District 50
Now, here is a district that is new to Brooklyn - and may take some locals residing around the Fort Hamilton Army base by surprise. I must admit I overlooked it among the new lines, so thank you to those who emailed to call it out.
David Carr, a Republican, is the current council member and is running unopposed. The blocks are currently represented by Justin Brannan (D). The district is majority White, with about even representation of Asians and Hispanics at 65% and about 15%, respectively. About a third of voters are Republican, a third Democrat, and a third undeclared. The district went overwhelmingly for Sliwa (R) in the Mayoral election.