This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated September 29, 2023
As the columnist on this page who provides the perspective from the left each week, when election season rolls around, this space will often be dedicated to local Democrats on the ballot. However, in this piece, I am delving into the fascinating situations between right-wing candidates in this year’s southern Brooklyn city council races.
Typically, just as the official Democratic Party nominees for local offices will also be on the Working Families Party line, Republican Party nominees are traditionally also the Conservative Party candidates. There are always exceptions but, for the most part, both sides usually coalesce around a single candidate that runs on multiple lines, so as not to split the vote from that voting bloc.
That is what makes the Southern Brooklyn races, as far as the Republican and Conservative line candidates on the ballot this year, so interesting. In this year where, with the exception of a few judicial races, city council elections are the only game in town, here in southern Brooklyn we are seeing that multiple races are a bit more complicated this year, as far as the candidates from the right side of the political spectrum.
The exception to this is council district 38, where incumbent Democrat Alexa Aviles is running against challenger Paul Rodriguez. When voters begin to cast their votes in a few weeks, Aviles will be found on the Democratic Party and Working Families Party lines, while Rodriguez will be on the Republican Party and Conservative Party lines, as one would typically expect. This district that covers parts of Bath Beach, Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights, and Sunset Park, is surrounded by two other southern Brooklyn council districts that have distinctly atypical races shaping up from candidates on the right.
The new council district 43 was specifically created during the recent redistricting process to create an Asian-opportunity district, with a majority-Asian population from parts of Bath Beach, Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights, and Sunset Park.
In June’s Republican primary, Ying Tan defeated Vito LaBella by 31 votes. With only just over 800 votes cast in the race, that amounted to a nearly 4 percent victory. LaBella, however, soon after secured the Conservative Party nomination and agreed to run on that line in a three-way race in the general election.
In a July 6 statement, LaBella announced he would remain in the contest on the Conservative Party line, stating that with respect to the election results, he did “not believe that they are indicative of my broad support” and said, “Of the three remaining candidates I remain the most qualified” in the race for the new Asian-opportunity district. LaBella had run and lost last year in the newly created Asian-majority state senate district 17. LaBella lives outside each of these districts but was legally able to run in them, being they were in redistricting years.
Many Republicans, including Republican Party candidate Ying Tan, have been critical of LaBella’s decision to run on the Conservative Party line, likely splitting the vote of local Republicans/Conservatives, after the Republicans were able to make serious inroads in southern Brooklyn races last year. The three-way is certain to benefit Democratic Party candidate Susan Zhuang.
It should be noted that Zhuang did not receive the Working Families Party nomination and, as reported in the New York Post a week before the June primary, she was caught on video telling a potential voter, “My ideas are the ideas of the Republican party” and, “…it is not easy for me to run as a Republican.” Given that, some might say there is no true Democrat in the race for this new district.
Next door in the newly drawn city council district 47, it may at first seem like a more typical race, with incumbent Justin Brannan on the left side of the ballot, and incumbent Ari Kagan representing the right side of the ticket. The fact the race features two incumbents is a product of the redistricting process overlapping their former district boundary lines, but Kagan’s switch from Democrat to Republican shortly after the new lines became official, adds a unique aspect to this race.
It had appeared that with Kagan securing both the Republican and Conservative Party lines on the ballot, there would be none of the three-way race drama seen in neighboring council district 43, with a second right-wing candidate looking to secure votes and potentially peel off support from the Republican nominee. However, as reported in the Daily News last week, what promises to be an extremely close race has now seen Katherine Khatari, an aide for Assemblyman Brook-Krasny, pop up as a conservative write-in candidate in the district.
Previous reporting from the paper had detailed Khatari’s statements supporting the attack on the U.S. Capitol after she attended the January 6 event at the ellipse, hosted by former-President Trump. Signs have appeared in Bay Ridge advertising Khatari — also a former Democrat — as a write-in alternative to Kagan for the area’s Conservatives. The Daily News cited a Facebook post in which Khatari acknowledged the write-in campaign and indicated she supported it.
These races will be close. Republicans had a bounceback year in southern Brooklyn races last year. The addition of secondary conservative candidates challenging Republican nominees in these general election contests is an added wrinkle that could potentially have determinative effects on the outcomes.
