City Council primaries: Introducing you to the Republican candidates running in Brooklyn's 47th Council District
NEW YORK - New York City's new City Council maps are redrawn every 10 years based on the census, and this time include notable changes, especially to parts of Southern Brooklyn.
The newly redrawn 47th Council District is an unfamiliar looking one, connecting the waterfront communities of Bay Ridge to Coney Island via a very narrow corridor stretching through parts of Dyker Heights.
Incumbent Councilmember Ari Kagan is fighting to stay in the seat he won as a Democrat in November 2021. After a long career aligned with the Democratic Party, last year he changed his affiliation to Republican, a move welcomed in conservative parts of Southern Brooklyn, but criticized by former Democratic allies.
"I did not leave the Democratic party. The Democratic party left me," Kagan explains to CBS2's Hannah Kliger.
Kagan touts endorsements from several Republican politicians like Congresswoman Nichole Malliotakis and former State Senator Marty Golden, and law enforcement associations. During a recent interview, he explained that he understands the district better than his opponents because of its immigrant population and his own background.
"I came from Minsk, from Belarus," he says. "I value democracy. I know what is a democracy ... I never take for granted the beauty of America. But we need to defend American values very often."
One of his opponents is Anna Belfiore-Delfaus, a mother of three, who boasts of her upbringing in Bensonhurst and Dyker Heights, and touts her longtime support for the NYPD.
"I am personally invested in where my city heads, what the future of the city is because I'm raising kids in the city and they're little. So what's happening now is going to shape their future," she tells CBS2's Hannah Kliger during an interview in Coney Island.
The third challenger in the primary is Bay Ridge resident Avery Pereira, who highlights his experience as a community activist running a grassroots campaign. He says his main focus has been on crime.
"It's been on the minds of so many people, people that just don't feel safe to leave their homes, to take the subways, especially the elderly," he says.
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This comes after a so-called "red wave" swept through parts of southern Brooklyn last year, with Republicans picking up several seats. Some even managed to unseat longtime Democratic incumbents in the State Assembly. These candidates believe a Republican has a chance to take this City Council seat in the general election.
All three candidates have faced their share of controversy as well. Kagan was the subject of a complaint to the Campaign Finance Board that alleges he is taking advantage of free airtime with his weekly Russian-language radio show.
"I am a radio host by trade. I'm a TV host by trade. And on my program every week, I am talking about issues of New York City," he responds. "It's a civic awareness program, and also did not start since I started to run for political office."
Belfiore-Delfaus has also faced criticism for currently living on Staten Island, and for what critics say is a lack of transparency over her employment history as a public school teacher; she hasn't been in the classroom since 2015.
"When you have a child, the UFT allows you four years of child care leave. So I had my second child and that's when I began my maternity leave and subsequently I had my third child and it extended the childcare leave another four years," she explains.
Sources at the New York City Department of Education have independently confirmed this to us, too.
Similar questions swirl around Pereira, who says he is a special education teacher.
"My mother was a special ed teacher for 15 years before she passed many years ago. And I said that this is something I wanted to do, too," he says.
However, he refused to disclose his current employment status.
Sources at NYCDOE confirmed he was a teacher for several years, but has not been an employee in the last six months.
As this diverse community of constituents prepares to head out to the polls, these candidates are starting to think beyond, to November.
Whoever wins the primary will have to face off against Democratic councilmember Justin Brennan from Bay Ridge, who has no primary challengers.
The voter registration deadline and start of early voting is June 17.
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