Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Bensonhurst, along with Staten Island, represent the only stronghold for the Republican Party in New York City. Whereas Democrats outnumber Republicans six to one in the city, in these neighborhoods, the ratio is narrower at three to one, still in favor of the Democrats.

Among the VIPs attending the event were New York Republican Party Chairman Edward Cox; state Sen. Marty Golden; Assemblymember and mayoral candidate Nicole Malliotakis; City Council candidates Ray Denaro, Steve Saperstein and John Quaglione; Brooklyn borough president candidate Vito Bruno and Brooklyn Republican Party Vice Chairman Brian Doherty.

Special guest speakers for the evening were Charlie Kirk, founder and executive director of Turning Point USA, and Fox News contributor, columnist and author Noelle Nikpour.

Former Republican mayoral candidate and current NYC comptroller nominee

Rev. Michel Faulkner served as master of ceremonies. He pointed out that Brooklyn is the borough with more Democrats than any other county in America.

Faulkner warmly welcomed Ghorra, who thanked everyone for coming and supporting the event. “At the end of the day we are supporting our values, our families, our friends and the life we live,” Ghorra said. He implored the audience to educate themselves on the issues and support the candidates in the upcoming election.

“Who here does not want safe streets?” asked Ghorra. “Who here doesn’t support our police force — anybody? Who here doesn’t want a good school for their kids, anybody? Who here wants a new mayor?

“Our budget in New York City is now $85 billion,” said Ghorra. “That’s bigger than all but three states in the country. The budget of New York City is the same as the entire state of Florida — it’s half of all of California, which is a much bigger place than New York City.”

He thanked everyone who ran for office, not just in Brooklyn, but citywide, calling the District 43 City Council race a hard-fought battle and congratulating Quaglione on his primary win.

Ghorra spoke about the initiatives the Brooklyn GOP is undertaking to grow and strengthen the party, including a phone bank operation that reached 51,000 people in the borough.

Faulkner introduced Cox by saying, “Chairman Ed Cox has one of the most difficult jobs in America, and yet he continues to fight day in and day out so that our state and city do not succumb to the one-party system.

“I don’t care what anybody says, Republicans look good in New York City.”

Cox said that New York City “was brought back by [former] Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and we now have a mayor in Bill de Blasio who is undoing systematically every reform that got this city back on its feet in being the greatest city, not only in the United States, but in the world.”

Malliotakis was greeted by loud applause when she asked the audience if they were ready to make de Blasio a one-term mayor.  She said, “In the city that never sleeps, we need a mayor who can stay awake.”

Malliotakis said she was running for mayor because “this is the city that I love, the city that I was born in, raised in, that my parents, immigrants from Cuba and Greece came to seek opportunity and achieve the American dream. And yet it’s becoming increasingly difficult to do that nowadays in New York City.”

She said that New York has become much more unaffordable now, and cited reasons that she is running for mayor including what she termed a clear deterioration in the quality of life in the city.

Malliotakis added that there is no urgency from the current administration in addressing the problems plaguing the city.

Golden closed out the program and reminded the audience that Faulkner had been a linebacker for the New York Jets and that Ed Cox is the son-in-law of former President Richard Nixon. He thanked Cox for doing a great job as chairman of the Republican Party.

Golden said that in Brooklyn and Staten Island elected officials work closely together because they have a similar philosophy: “We believe in our children, we believe in our communities, we believe in jobs, we believe in less taxes, less government and less regulation.”

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