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These are the key NY state Senate and Assembly races in Brooklyn and Queens
By
Jon Campbell
Published Oct 30, 2024
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NYS Senate Media Services
By
Jon Campbell
Published Oct 30, 2024
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Every state legislative seat in New York is on the ballot this year. Just a small handful of these races are competitive.
The 63 seats in the state Senate and the 150 in the Assembly run on two-year terms, so they come up for a vote every other year. Of those, 27 Senate districts and 65 Assembly districts are within or overlap with New York City. More than half of those city-based districts have already been decided.
Twelve Senate candidates and 35 Assembly candidates are running unopposed in heavily Democratic New York City, meaning the candidates — all but two of whom are Democrats — essentially punched their ticket to Albany after the June primary elections. Of the remaining districts, few in the city are expected to be close.
There are some notable exceptions, including the 17th Senate District in central and south Brooklyn, where first-term Democratic Sen. Iwen Chu is facing a stiff challenge from Republican Steve Chan, a former NYPD sergeant.
In the Assembly, Democrat-turned-Republican Alec Brook-Krasny is trying to hold onto his seat against Democrat Chris McCreight in south Brooklyn, while moderate Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato is locked in a rematch with Republican Thomas Sullivan in Queens. Two years ago, she defeated him by just 15 votes.
Here’s a look at some of the key state legislative races in New York City this year.
17th Senate District
Who: Sen. Iwen Chu (Democrat, incumbent) vs. Steve Chan (Republican)
Where: Brooklyn, including Sunset Park, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Kensington
The lowdown: Chu, a former legislative staffer, first won a seat in the state Senate two years ago, winning her heavily Asian district by 534 votes.
Now, she’s running on her record in her short time in office, where she’s made e-bike safety a major part of her platform. That includes getting a bill passed that requires sellers to affix a notice on all electric bikes and scooters that warns against riding on the sidewalk and reminds riders to follow all traffic laws, including yielding to pedestrians.
“How do we support our police? I have a record,” she said in an interview with Gothamist. “How do we prevent those e-bike fires or [promote] e-bike safety? I have legislation that’s a law now.”
But Chan is running a tough-on-crime campaign that emphasizes his past service in the U.S. Marine Corps and NYPD.
Another major issue in the race: a proposed shelter on 86th Street for up to 150 homeless men, which has spurred major protests in Bensonhurst.
“The whole neighborhood is rising up against it because there are better options,” Chan said. He argues the shelter "doesn't have to be in a major corridor where small businesses are being operated.”
23rd Assembly District
Who: Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato (Democrat, incumbent) vs. Thomas Sullivan (Republican)
Where: Queens, including the Rockaways, Howard Beach, Lindenwood and Ozone Park
The lowdown: It doesn’t get much closer than Pheffer Amato and Sullivan’s race in 2022, when the Democrat eked out a win by the narrowest of margins.
This year, there’s a rematch. And it’s expected to be tight again.
Pheffer Amato has been in the Assembly since 2017. She has positioned herself as a staunch ally of law enforcement, and she spoke out against the city’s shelter for migrants at Floyd Bennett Field, just across the border of her district.
Sullivan served in the U.S. Army Reserve and has made the migrant crisis and repealing the state’s cash bail reforms a major part of his campaign.
46th Assembly District
Who: Assemblymember Alec Brook-Krasny (Republican, incumbent) vs. Chris McCreight (Democrat)
Where: South Brooklyn, including Coney Island, Seagate, part of Brighton Beach, Fort Hamilton, Dyker Heights and Bay Ridge
The lowdown: Brook-Krasny has a long history in New York City politics.
He was in the state Assembly as a conservative-leaning Democrat from 2007 to 2015, when he resigned to work for a medical-testing company. In 2017, he was indicted on health care fraud and bribery charges, but he was found not guilty of the fraud charges and the bribery charge was ultimately dismissed.
Two years ago, he ran for Assembly as a Republican and won, flipping what had been a blue seat.
He’s facing a challenge from McCreight, a first-time candidate who is Democratic City Councilmember Justin Brannan’s chief of staff.
11th Senate District
Who: Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky (Democrat, incumbent) vs. Yiatin Chu (Republican)
Where: Queens, including part of Astoria, College Point, Whitestone, Bay Terrace, Douglaston-Little Neck, Bellerose and Holliswood, plus Rikers Island.
The lowdown: The Staviskys are a Queens institution, with Toby taking office in 1999 following the death of her husband, Leonard, who was in the state Legislature for more than three decades himself. And the district is heavily favorable to a Democrat, with nearly four times as many Democrats as Republicans.
But Republicans are feeling good about their candidate, Yiatin Chu, whose introduction to politics came as the founder of a group that fought back against former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s push to eliminate the admissions test for the city’s specialized high schools.
“I think she deserves a real retirement, number one,” Chu said of Stavisky. “And two, I think she's just out of touch with where people are in her district. This district deserves someone with more energy, some fresh ideas that are more connected to where this district is politically.”
Stavisky, who chairs the Senate's higher education committee, says that’s nonsense. She touted her ongoing effectiveness, pointing to her successful push to boost New York's Tuition Assistance Program earlier this year. She also cited her efforts to ward off tuition hikes at SUNY and CUNY schools.
“The fact that it was my position that we should increase [TAP] to keep students in New York state, that was a new idea,” Stavisky said. “That’s what keeps me going. We had an idea, and it worked. That, to me, is just amazing.”
One local issue that could have an effect on the race: the city’s migrant shelter at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, which is in the district and drew significant protests from residents.
Some other contested races:
- Brooklyn Sen. Andrew Gounardes, a Democrat, is facing a challenge from Republican Vito LaBella in the 26th District, which includes parts of Downtown Brooklyn and Park Slope. LaBella was narrowly defeated by Iwen Chu in a nearby district two years ago.
- First-term Democratic Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton of Staten Island is facing off in the 23rd District against Republican Marko Kepi.
- In the state Assembly, Republican Philip S.C. Wang, a chiropractor, is challenging Democratic Assemblymember Ron Kim in the 40th District, which includes parts of Flushing and Murray Hill.
To check whether your district has a contested race, visit the New York City Board of Elections’ "find your pollsite" tool.
Tagged
new york state
new york city
brooklyn
queens
Politics
elections
Jon Campbell
Jon Campbell covers the New York State Capitol for WNYC and Gothamist. Prior to that, he covered the Capitol for more than a decade for the USA TODAY Network. He has twice earned the Walter T. Brown Memorial Award, an honor given annually by the Legislative Correspondents Association alumni for outstanding state government coverage. Jon grew up in the Buffalo area and graduated from the University at Albany. Got a tip? Email Jon at [email protected] or Signal at JonCampbellNY.90.
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