This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated November 18, 2022
The 2022 Election Day is now in the books. Well, at the time this was written, less than twenty-four hours after polls closed, though all votes had been cast, several key races in Southern Brooklyn were still too close to call and were not officially in the books yet.
There was a lot of talk leading into Election Day 2022 of an impending red wave, with Republicans sweeping through the national scene with significant pick-ups in the House and Senate, thus flipping both houses. No doubt, Republicans won congressional races, but the massive red wave many had predicted did not materialize.
As of the day after Election Day, the Senate hinged on three races that were yet to be decided, with it appearing that Democrats would either retain control after the Arizona and Nevada contests were called or it would have to wait for a run-off in Georgia, as was the case in 2020 when a runoff election in Georgia gave Democrats control of the Senate.
The House of Representatives still had many races that were too close to call as of Wednesday, and although it seemed most likely that Republicans would flip enough seats to take control, it was definitely going to be very close. That is not what generally happens in midterm elections, where the party that controls the White House usually sees big losses in the House.
The red wave did not appear in statewide races across the country either, as Republicans did not win more of those races than Democrats and there were similar results in other statewide offices. That applied to the Governor’s race in New York, as with 94 percent of the vote counted, Governor Hochul led Lee Zeldin by nearly five points, leading major media sources to project Hochul as the winner.
Though at the statewide and national levels, Republicans did not see the huge pick-ups many had predicted, here in Southern Brooklyn there definitely was a bit of a red wave. I was out campaigning for local Democrats the past few weeks, including outside a poll site until polls closed on Election Night, but regardless of one’s own party, it is undeniable that Republicans did very well across Southern Brooklyn.
With nearly all of the votes counted in their districts, longtime assemblymembers Peter Abbate and Steven Cymbrowitz faced deficits that all but mathematically ensured their opponents’ wins. Situated between their districts in the 46th assembly district, Assemblymember Frontus trailed her challenger by nearly 800 votes with 95 percent of the results reported.
Frontus faced a similar situation two years ago when she was behind by nearly 3,000 votes with 99 percent of in-person votes counted, a race that she eventually won by 800 votes. Her deficit was more than three-and-a-half points in 2020 at this point, but there are less absentee votes left to count this time around, so whatever the result is, it will take some time to determine it and it will be very close.
In the newly drawn senate district 17, with over 97 percent of the vote counted, Iwen Chu led her Republican opponent, Vito LaBella, by 215 votes, in another race that would undoubtedly not be settled quickly and end with a razor-thin margin.
Undeniably, Republicans did very well in Southern Brooklyn. Besides what they did, what the Democratic party did not do most certainly had a big impact on these races, some of which will be settled by an extremely small number of votes.
The redistricting process was destined for failure from the time then-Governor Cuomo helped usher in the redistricting commission 2014 that would be comprised of politically partisan members from both parties. The maps the Democratic legislature ultimately created were not ruled to be gerrymandered, but the courts ruled they did not follow the process outlined in the state constitution, which was a failure by the elected Democratic leaders who oversaw that process.
“I can’t remember South Brooklyn as opposed to other parts of Brooklyn. I would say it was probably $150,000 easy in Brooklyn in the last week. And I don’t know what they’re talking about. I don’t think they know what they’re talking about.”
Jay Jacobs, Chair of the New York State Democratic Committee, when asked by The City what resources he allocated to Southern Brooklyn, where he has faced criticism for not sending assistance to Democratic candidates in extremely competetive races, most of which appear will be won by Republicans
The State Democratic Party did not use its resources to assist Democrats in tough Southern Brooklyn races and the Brooklyn Democratic Party did what it has become notorious for doing: absolutely nothing. And in addition to it affecting Democrats in Southern Brooklyn, the party’s mistakes definitely led to Republicans gaining more congressional seats in New York than they would have otherwise, and may be the difference in the GOP narrowly winning a majority in the House.
