Democrat fends off GOP incursion in South Brooklyn council race

A moderate Democrat who is among the most powerful members of the New York City Council defeated his Republican opponent on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. By prevailing in the southern Brooklyn race, Democrats captured a council seat that showed signs of slipping from their control.

Democrat Justin Brannan, the council’s finance chairman, defeated Ari Kagan, who was elected to the council in 2021 as a Democrat but left the party last year and quickly adopted Republican positions on issues such as abortion and crime.

The two incumbents ended up in the same South Brooklyn district as a result of a once-in-a-decade redistricting process that saw all 51 Council seats re-elected.

Democrats have overwhelming control of the City Council, and many remained unopposed Tuesday — including Yusef Salaam, one of the so-called Central Park Five defendants who won a hotly contested Council primary in Harlem last summer.

But Republicans were hoping to gain a seat or two, with Kagan and a Bronx candidate, Kristy Marmorato, being their best hope. Ms. Marmorato, an X-ray technician who toes the Republican and Conservative lines, challenged Marjorie Velázquez, the Democratic incumbent in the northern Bronx.

The growth in size and political influence of the Asian American community was also reflected in this year’s vote.

In a new district in southern Brooklyn, created as part of the redistricting process to accommodate that community’s growth, Susan Zhuang, a Democrat and chief of staff to Rep. William Colton, faced off against Ying Tan, the Republican .

In north Queens, Republican incumbent Vickie Paladino defeated Tony Avella, a Democrat and former councilman, in a rematch from two years ago.

Inna Vernikov, a Republican who was recently accused of openly displaying a gun on her hip at a pro-Palestine rally where she was a counter-protester, easily defeated two candidates in another South Brooklyn district.

Melinda Katz, the Queens district attorney and a moderate Democrat, also won easily over Michael Mossa, the Republican candidate. Mr. Mossa tried unsuccessfully to portray Ms. Katz as a far-left progressive woman who was soft on crime.

Voters have also been thinking two statewide ballot measures that would allow local governments to raise their debt limits to build sewage treatment plants and for small-town school districts to improve their physical properties.