Introducing you to the candidates running for City Council's 43rd District
NEW YORK - For an election on an off-year, a lot hangs in the balance in Southern Brooklyn. The 43rd City Council district runs through parts of Sunset Park, Borough Park, Bath Beach, Bensonhurst and Gravesend, and for the first time, features a nearly 54% Asian majority population.
Susan Zhuang is the Democratic candidate who won a landslide primary victory. She previously served as chief of staff to Assemblymember William Colton.
"A lot of times, Asians feel they are underrepresented. Finally, they have someone able to speak up for them," she says.
The Bensonhurst resident moved here from China as an international student. She has a background in finance and worked in data analysis before transitioning to politics.
"A lot of people already know me, and then they have been seeing me everywhere and they know what I did before," she says.
The district was redrawn after the 2020 census showed Asian Americans were the fastest growing population in the city. Because of this redistricting, there's no incumbent in the race. While a majority of people here are registered Democrats, voters actually supported gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin and mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa in recent years.
This makes Republicans feel hopeful. The GOP candidate is Ying Tan. She also immigrated from China more than ten years ago and says she spent years volunteering with seniors.
"I have been helping a lot of senior citizens who don't speak English right here to apply for different services. First of all, they don't know how to see doctors. They don't know how to take their transportation," she says.
This is her first foray into politics, and she says that's a good thing.
"I really want to step in and change something," Tan says.
She won a very narrow primary, a victory of only 31 votes over candidate Vito LaBella. Instead of hanging his hat up, the former NYPD Lieutenant is now running on the Conservative ticket.
"I started as an education activist trying to help families to get their kids into better schools because the city was discriminating against specifically Asian families. And I just got more and more involved," LaBella says.
He's the only non-Asian candidate running in what's called an "Asian Opportunity" district.
"But I believe that that's a misnomer ... Their needs are everyone's needs. Their desires are everyone's desires," he says.
All three candidates say the top priorities for residents of the district are public safety, quality of education and affordable housing. Early voting kicks off on Oct. 28.
You can check your poll site here.
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