Frontus declares victory in Coney
But how did a Republican QAnon supporter get so many votes in a blue district?
THE POWER TO
MANAGE
YOUR BILL
COURIER LIFE, NOV. 20-26, 2020 3
BY ROSE ADAMS
Democratic incumbent Mathylde
Frontus declared victory
on Nov. 18 in the contentious
race for the Coney Island
state Assembly seat against
Republican challenger Mark
Szuszkiewicz.
As of Wednesday evening,
Frontus lead Szuszkiewicz by
only 483 votes, but her campaign
manager said her lead
will grow after offi cials count
many of the more than 500 ballots
that Szuszkiewicz’s campaign
has contested.
With those contested votes,
Frontus’ lead will surpass the
540 outstanding affi davit ballots
that will be counted this
weekend — making it numerically
impossible for Szuszkiewicz
to catch up, campaign
manager Joe Herrera said.
The race of the 46th Assembly
district — which encompasses
Coney Island, west
Brighton Beach, Sea Gate, and
parts of Gravesend and Bay
Ridge — made national headlines
as the virtually unknown
Republican candidate swept
the race on election night with
17,852 votes, about 2,300 more
votes than Frontus.
If elected, Szuszkiewicz
would be the fi rst Republican
to serve Coney Island in more
than 80 years.
Prior to her declaration,
Szuszkiewicz’s campaign
stressed that the race was still
anyone’s game.
“This is by no means over.
We’re going to count every
vote, and we’re going to make
sure we don’t leave any stone
unturned,” said Liam Mc-
Cabe.
If the fi nal tally narrows
Frontus’ lead to less than
one percent of all the votes —
which, in this case, is about
400 votes — elections offi cials
will have to recount all the
ballots in the race by hand, according
to New York City election
rules.
Szuszkiewicz has come
under scrutiny for his social
media posts supporting the
far-right conspiracy theory
QAnon, which claims that a
group of Democratic pedophiles
are running a global
child sex-traffi cking ring and
conspiring against President
Donald Trump.
The Republican candidate
also uploaded Instagram posts
questioning the severity of
COVID-19 and claiming that
face masks spread diseases.
He has faced a felony charge
for allegedly stalking a former
work associate in 2008.
Szuszkiewicz’s relative
success in the election came
as a “red wave” swept southern
Brooklyn — electing Nicole
Malliotakis to the southern
Brooklyn congressional
seat, and threatening the campaign
of Bay Ridge’s Democratic
state senator, Andrew
Gounardes. Pockets of Frontus’
district also voted for
President Donald Trump’s reelection,
according to a map of
in-person votes.
One politico speculated that
the pro-Trump surge came as
a result of the COVID-19 lockdowns
and anti-police protests.
“People were angry,” said
Assemblywoman Rodneyse
Bichotte, who leads the Brooklyn
Democratic Party. “I think
some of the electeds themselves
weren’t expecting the
outcome.”
A Republican party operative
refuted the narrative that
Szuszkiewicz was only elected
because local Trump supporters
voted down the party
line, arguing that Republicans
worked hard for his campaign.
“We were working very
hard on the ground, as was
our candidate,” Fran Vella-
Marrone, president of the
Brooklyn Conservative Party
said, adding that an increase
in shootings throughout the
city swayed many voters.
“I think a lot of it too was
what the opposition was espousing.
With ‘defund the police’
and no cash bail,” she
said.
Vella-Marrone declined to
comment on Szuszkiewicz’s
social media posts supporting
QAnon. McCabe, however,
said that the posts were simply
reposts from other accounts
meant to stir conversation,
rather than endorse QAnon’s
conspiracy theories.
“The truth is these are reposts
to start a conversation,”
he said. “And I can tell you in
20 years of knowing him, we’ve
never spoken about QAnon.
That was banter on the internet,
and it doesn’t represent
what he believes or what his
supporters believe.”
The certifi ed Board of Elections
results will most likely
not be released for several
weeks, until all the races are
counted.
Assemblywoman Mathylde Frontus.
Mathylde Frontus’ offi ce
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