Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Andrew Gounardes Declares Victory Over Republican Vito Bruno After Surge Of Absentee And Mail-In Ballots
By
Sydney Pereira
Published Nov 18, 2020
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Sydney Pereira
Published Nov 18, 2020
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
After trailing behind his Republican opponent by more than 6,000 votes on Election Day, State Senator Andrew Gounardes declared victory against Republican Vito Bruno, following days of ballot counting.
Absentee and mail-in ballots helped Gounardes surge past his opponent. As of Wednesday evening, the incumbent led by about 2,500 votes, with 1,800 or so to count, according to his campaign.
“It is the honor of my life to serve my community, and today as the remaining votes are counted, I am enormously grateful to the neighborhoods of southern Brooklyn for reelecting me to represent them in the State Senate,” Gounardes said in a statement. “I will go back to Albany and continue to fight for our community while always remembering the values we share together: to help our neighbors in need and do what is right no matter what.”
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins congratulated Gounardes, calling him a “strong advocate for his constituents and their priorities.”
Bruno’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Two years ago in a stunning win, Gounardes beat longtime Republican State Senator Marty Golden by just 1,271 votes. A Senate Democrats spokesperson said Gounardes’s “margin will be greater than it was 2 years ago and he got more votes [in the district] than President-elect Biden.”
After Election Day, Republicans declaring a sweeping success after Election Day, citing discontent with Democrats for pushing criminal justice measures perceived as dangerous and soft on crime. Bruno, a former nightlife entrepreneur who ran a Lower Manhattan club AM/PM, campaigned against criminal justice reform measures like bail reform and pushed pro-police messaging critical of protesters.
Throughout the campaign, Gounardes was among a group of state senators targeted with millions of dollars in attack ads funded by billionaire Ron Lauder to topple Democrats in swing districts and boost Republican support.
The ad campaign, funded by Lauder’s Safer Together New York, blamed lawmakers, including Gounardes, for rising crime after bail reform passed in the state legislature. Advertisements associated a Bay Ridge man shot to death while walking his dog with changes in police funding that shifted school safety agents from the NYPD, capped overtime for officers, and cancelled two police academy classes. A video ad claimed that state bail reform ended cash bail altogether, which is untrue.
“People do not feel safe in this city anymore,” Bruno said on John Catsimatidis's talk show days before the election. “It’s unsafe. People are miserable. They’re unhappy. I will stand up, get rid of that bail reform, I will stand up to Mr. de Blasio. This is what we need. We need public safety. Safety, security, and sanity.”
Local political observers noted the tough-on-crime distortion of bail reform to demonize Gounardes was apparent in mailers and phone polls.
Bruno “ran a really negative campaign but in a way that distorted Andrew’s record on key issues” like bail reform, said a Bay Ridge resident and Democratic political operative, Rachel Brody. "Just really inflammatory stuff."
Despite Bruno’s campaign messaging, as the Brooklyn Paper noted, Bruno had told the NY Times he bribed police officers to stave off scrutiny from the cops at an after-hours club, and in an interview for Bob Woodword’s 1984 book “Wired,” said he would give drugs to his friends. (Bruno denied giving drugs to friends to the newspaper.)
Though certified election results aren't in yet, here's a map of the unofficial election results in the 22nd Senate District.
The state-level crusade for “law-and-order” mirrored the national landscape, when the Police Benevolent Association’s endorsement of President Donald Trump threw New York into the national spotlight. The president fueled criticism of the city’s Democratic leaders calling the city a “ghost town” and “anarchist jurisdiction” for its rise in crime and characterized protesters as looters.
The city has seen an uptick in shooting incidents and murder by 94% and 37%, respectively, through the end of October compared to the same time frame last year, NYPD statistics show. But major crimes overall are still nearly 10% lower than they were 10 years ago, according to the most recent figures. NYPD’s own data shows bail reform hasn’t driven the shooting spike. A rise in shootings has been a national phenomenon during the COVID-19 health emergency and economic crisis.
Southern Brooklyn has drawn heavy attention as Republicans appeared to have relative success in the area on Election Day—though the full scope of victories and losses remains to be seen.
Assemblymember Mathylde Frontus was bracing for a loss against an apparent QAnon sympathizer and little-known Republican Mark Szuszkiewicz—but as of Wednesday, she was ahead by hundreds of votes as ballot counting continued, according to her campaign. Neither have declared victory, but the Brooklyn Democratic Party has already said Frontus will win.
In Brooklyn’s and Staten Island’s 11th Congressional District, freshman Representative Max Rose conceded last week to Trump-backed Nicole Malliotakis, a former assemblymember who sparred with Rose in contentious ads about crime and demonstrations against police violence.
Tagged
brooklyn
Andrew Gounardes
south brooklyn
Politics
Democrats
republicans
Sydney Pereira
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 7:04 p.m. ET
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
News
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .