Brannan edges out Fox, retains 43rd District City Council seat

November 16, 2021 Jaime DeJesus

A jubilant moment on the campaign trail with Borough President (and now Mayor-elect) Eric Adams, Justin Brannan, and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer.

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After trailing by 255 votes when election night ended, incumbent Councilmember Justin Brannan of the 43rd C.D. has retained the seat after the counting of nearly 1,800 absentee ballots, it was announced Tuesday, Nov. 16,

Brannan slightly edged out Republican challenger Brian Fox in the district, which includes Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bath Beach and part of Bensonhurst.

“Despite being up against a red wave driven by misinformation, lies, and one of the dirtiest campaigns southern Brooklyn has ever seen, we prevailed,” Brannan said. “We refused to be defined by simplistic right or left labels. We refused to be defined by the falsehoods of my opponent.

Photos courtesy of Justin Brannan’s Office

“Instead, we focused on delivering for the hardworking people who call this district home and trusting the voters to know the courage of our convictions. We made hard choices. Not always convenient or popular, but we trusted the voters to see the truth and keep our community moving forward,” Brannan added.

Around the same time, Fox officially conceded, thanking all his voters and supporters in an email.

“Although we came up short in the end, we managed to come within one percentage point of victory, something none of the so-called experts predicted,” Fox, a high-tech entrepreneur and HR recruiter, said. “I am enormously proud of the strides my campaign made, and I look forward to remaining active in New York City politics.

“This race made me believe even more strongly that change is needed within the City Council if we want to restore the quality-of-life New Yorkers expect. And as far as Brian Fox and the Republican movement in Brooklyn is concerned, we’re just getting started,” Fox added.

As of 1:10 a.m. on Nov. 3, with more than 98 percent of the votes counted, Fox had 12,145 votes (50.44 percent) and Brannan had 11,890 (49.39 percent), according to unofficial results from the Board of Elections.

However, absentee and military ballots, which are not readily available on election night, eventually swung the race in Brannan’s favor.

After the first day of counting these votes by the NYC Board of Elections, on Monday, Nov. 15, Brannan reported a 132-vote lead. The trend continued on Tuesday.

Brannan’s camp announced they secured a lead of more than 400 votes, a number beyond the threshold for a hand recount and larger than the number of ballots remaining to be counted.