Brooklyn party chair brings Republicans into overdrive to field candidates

GOP especially gains in Southern Brooklyn: Brighton to Bay Ridge to Midwood

April 22, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

Brooklyn GOP Chair Ted Ghorra. Photo courtesy of Brooklyn GOP

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It wasn’t so long ago when Brooklyn had only one or two Republican elected officials, and the local Republican Party didn’t run candidates in every district.

Now the GOP has U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (Southern Brooklyn-Staten Island), Assemblymember Michael Tannousis (Bay Ridge-Western Staten Island) and Councilmember Inna Vernikov (Brighton Beach-Manhattan Beach-Sheepshead Bay).

And earlier this year, former Democratic Assemblymember Alec Brook-Krasny, who represented a Southern Brooklyn district, announced that he was switching to the GOP — and running for Assembly again.

Fran Vella-Marrone, chair of the Brooklyn Conservative Party. Brooklyn Reporter file photo

On Friday, Brooklyn’s Republican Party announced that it has filed nominating petitions for an ambitious slate of candidates across the borough. Most of the candidates are also endorsed by the Brooklyn Conservative Party.

In most parts of Brooklyn, the Republicans face an uphill climb. In the last election, Democratic candidate for Borough President Antonio Reynoso won more than 70 percent of the vote.

Karim Elsammak is running against incumbent State Sen. Andrew Gounardes. Photo courtesy of Brooklyn GOP

However, Republicans here believe they have a viable alternative to what they see as the leftward swing of the Democratic Party in recent years, especially on a local level. At the present time, five Brooklyn state legislators are members of Democratic Socialists of America, according to Bklyner. Also, Republicans have pointed to the fact that some Democrats, such as former Comptroller Scott Stringer, embraced the “defund the police” movement in 2020, although Democratic Mayor Eric Adams criticized the slogan.

“While irresponsible Democratic legislators in Albany, Washington D.C. and New York City have been running New York into the ground with reckless measures leaving our neighborhoods less safe, our economy battered and our schools under the grip of a permanent bureaucracy that ignores families, Brooklyn Republicans have been organizing,” said Brooklyn GOP Chairman Ted Ghorra.

“Our slate of candidates for state legislature, our steadfast support of Congressmember Nicole Malliotakis and Assemblymember Tannousis and our strong candidates for Congress throughout the borough are all built on the voices of our diverse neighborhoods speaking out for desperately needed positive change,” he added.

Dmitri Kugel is challenging longtime incumbent Assemblymember Bill Colton. Photo courtesy of Brooklyn GOP

“Our candidates are running against legislators and professional activists who insist that their decisions be consequence free,” said Brooklyn Conservative Chairwoman Fran Vella-Marrone. “But the truth is this — our neighbors know that Democrats are bad on public safety, bad on supporting our police, bad on protecting home and property owners, bad on school choice, bad on the economy.”

According to Ghorra, these Republican candidates are running for Assembly in Brooklyn (Tannousis for re-election):

Michael Tannousis for State Assembly in the 64AD
Brenda Horton for State Assembly in the 44th AD
Michael Novakhov for State Assembly in the 45th AD
Alec Brook-Krasny for State Assembly in the 46th AD
Dmitriy Kugel for State Assembly in the 47th AD
Lester Chang for State Assembly in the 49th AD
Timothy Petersen for State Assembly in the 51AD
Brett Eugene Wynkoop for State Assembly in the 52AD
Khorshed A. Chowdhury for State Assembly in the 54AD
Berneda Jackson for State Assembly in the 55AD
Monique Allen-Davy for State Assembly in the 58AD

These three are running for State Senate seats on the GOP line (Note—Simcha Felder was originally elected as a Democrat, but has caucused with the Republicans in Albany):

Karim Elsammak for State Senate in 22nd SD
Sergey Fedorov for State Senate in 23rd SD
Simcha Felder for State Senate in the 26 SD

These five are running for Congress in Brooklyn districts (Malliotakis for re-election):

Nicole Malliotakis for Congress in the 11th CD
Juan Pagan for Congress in the 7th CD
Yuri Dashevsky for Congress in the 8th CD
Benine Hamdan for Congress in the 10th CD
Michael Zumbluskas for Congress in the 12th CD

In addition, Chairman Ghorra’s Brooklyn GOP filed nominating petitions for 947 County Committee spots throughout the borough.

“Deep unease with the radical lurch of the Democratic Party is resonating throughout the diverse communities of Brooklyn. Southern Brooklyn has become an especially solid Republican and Conservative vote in recent years, with the Brooklyn GOP and Conservative Party racking up big votes from Coney Island and Brighton Beach and Sheepshead Bay through to Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights, Bay Ridge, Bath Beach, Midwood and Ocean Parkway,” said a statement from the Brooklyn Republican Party.