BY BEN VERDE
Republicans have taken
the lead in several southern
Brooklyn elections as offi cials
fi nish tallying in-person votes
— threatening a handful of
seats held by Democrats.
In addition to Assemblywoman
Nicole Malliotakis’
commanding lead in the NY-11
house race over Democratic incumbent
Max Rose, Republican
candidates have also plowed
ahead in the state Senate race in
Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights,
as well as in two state Assembly
races in southern Brooklyn.
All but one of those seats are
currently held by Democrats.
Though the results aren’t
COURIER L 6 IFE, NOV. 6-12, 2020
all conclusive — the Board of
Elections has not yet counted
absentee ballots, which will
likely skew Democrat — the
leads have complicated the
path to victory for the Democratic
incumbents, some of
whom were favored to win.
State Senate District 22
In a contentious race for
state Senate in Bay Ridge and
Dyker Heights, Republican challenger
Vito Bruno has claimed
53.95 percent of the vote against
Democratic incumbent Andrew
Gounardes as of Wednesday afternoon,
with more than 97 percent
of the votes counted.
Freshman Gounardes,
Former nightclub owner Vito Bruno leads incumbent Andrew Gounardes in the race for the 22nd State Senate
District, but absentee ballots are yet to be counted. Andrew Gounardes’ Offi ce / Vito Bruno
who eked out a narrow victory
against longtime Republican
rep Marty Golden in 2018, trails
Bruno by just over 6,000 votes.
Bruno’s lead will most
likely shrink when election offi
cials begin counting absentee
ballots on Nov. 9, since Democrats
in the district have sent
in more absentee ballots than
Republicans. But the absentee
votes may not save Gounardes:
Democrats have only returned
6,447 more ballots than Republicans
as of Nov. 3, meaning
that the race could be decided
by hundreds of votes.
Still, Gounardes said he was
hopeful that the absentee votes
could bring him to victory. “I
am confi dent that once these
votes are counted, we will
prevail,” Gounardes said in a
statement released Tuesday.
Assembly District 46
In the state Assembly race
in Bay Ridge and Coney Island,
Republican Mark Szuszkiewicz
leads incumbent Mathylde
Frontus with 51 percent
of the vote with about 1,500
votes more than Frontus, according
to the state BOE.
If elected, Szuszkiewicz
would be the fi rst GOP to represent
the district in at least 71
years. But the race is far from
over; there are still 16,000 outstanding
absentee ballots.
More than 3,000 of these absentee
ballots are from registered
Democrats, compared to
only 728 from Republicans, but
this discrepancy did not stop
Szuszkiewicz from declaring
victory on Tuesday night.
Assembly District 64
In the 64th Assembly District
— a seat currently held by
congressional candidate Nicole
Malliotakis — Republican Michael
Tannousis defeated Democrat
Brandon Patterson, claiming
60.8 percent of the vote.
Though absentee ballots have
not been counted, Tannousis’
lead is too large for Patterson to
make up with mail-ins.The district,
which encompasses a portion
of Staten Island and a sliver
of Bay Ridge, has been held by a
Republican since 2012.
For continued election coverage,
visit BrooklynPaper.com.
Republicans
pull ahead
in southern
Brooklyn
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