Election Day didn’t bring too many surprises in 2023 — with a notable exception in the East Bronx.
New York City voters headed to the polls Tuesday to select their City Council member for the next two years. And in the end — despite newly drawn districts based on the latest U.S. Census figures — the Council will look much the same as it did the past two years.
Here’s what we know so far about the results of the 2023 elections:
Council incumbents win – for the most part
In general, it was a good day to be an incumbent member of the New York City Council.
Sitting councilmembers won or had a lead in 48 of the 51 districts across the city, according to unofficial results from the city Board of Elections.
For the remaining three districts, two Democratic newcomers — Yusef Salaam of Harlem and Chris Banks of Brooklyn — won primaries in June and ran unopposed Tuesday.
The third newcomer on her way to victory is a Republican who appeared poised to pull a major upset Tuesday: Kristy Marmorato, the political newcomer who declared victory. She held a 700-vote lead over incumbent Democrat Marjorie Velazquez on Tuesday night in the 13th Council District in the East Bronx, which includes Throggs Neck, City Island and Pelham Bay.
The only other incumbent to lose was Republican Ari Kagan of Brooklyn, but his race was a special case. Because of redistricting, he squared off against another incumbent, Democrat Justin Brannan, who cruised to victory.
Speaking with Gothamist, Kagan partially attributed his loss to the new boundaries of his district.
“Don’t forget, it’s new lines of the district, completely redrawn — some of the neighborhoods did not even know me,” Kagan said. “Definitely new to Bay Ridge and parts of Dyker.”
A Republican in the Bronx? It’s been a while.
If Marmorato hangs on in the Bronx, she’ll be the first Republican to represent the borough in the City Council in decades.
In January, Bronx GOP Chair Mike Rendino, Marmorato’s brother, told…
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