Scramble To Replace Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny Begins

Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny — who announced last month that he will be resigning from office — celebrated his final day in office this week, which means the scramble for his newly vacant seat has officially begun.

Possible Democratic contenders for the 46th District spot include Brook-Krasny’s chief of staff Kate Cucco; Andrew Gounardes, chief counsel to Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams; former councilman Michael Nelson; Bay Ridge lawyer John Gangemi; and Pamela Harris, executive director of the non-profit group Coney Island Generation Gap, reports the Brooklyn Eagle.

Republicans rumored to be running for the seat include Lucretia Regina-Potter, the Republican District Leader of the 46th A.D.

At the July 7 farewell party, Brook-Krasny threw his support behind the Cucco, an Ohio native who has worked as his chief of staff for the last seven years.

The New York Observer reports:

At a going-away party for the Democratic legislator yesterday—which was his final day in office—Mr. Brook-Krasny said he was backing top aide Kate Cucco to represent the district, which spans the neighborhoods of Bay Ridge and Coney Island.

“Kate is totally ready. Kate is going to be a wonderful assemblywoman,” he said, citing Ms. Cucco’s experience working under him. “She’s a great legislator already. She’s a great representative, as my chief-of-staff she’s been a great representative, and she’s a great people person.”

Whoever does end up winning the assemblyman’s seat will have large shoes to fill. Brook-Krasny has long been seen as trailblazer in Brooklyn’s Russian American community. He moved to New York from Moscow in 1989, and launched a successful business — a children’s entertainment center in Brighton Beach called Fun-O-Rama — and began to get involved communal and civic life. In 2006, he became the first Soviet-born official to be elected to the state legislature.

Governor Andrew Cuomo has yet to call a special election for the assembly seat and more candidates will likely surface in the coming weeks. Who would you like to see take Brook-Krasny’s place?