He was being eyed as the next City Council speaker — now Councilman Justin Brannan is just trying to hold onto his seat.
The incumbent Brooklyn Democrat …
He was being eyed as the next City Council speaker — now Councilman Justin Brannan is just trying to hold onto his seat. The incumbent Brooklyn Democrat found himself part of Tuesday’s red wave along with such national party under-performers as Terry McAuliffe in Virginia and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy — an unexpected tight battle to hold onto his seat against a Republic challenger. Republican Brian Fox leads Brannan by 255 votes in the unofficial machine count — 12,145 votes to 11,890 votes in the 43rd district of Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bath Beach and Bensonhurst. There were 3,720 absentee ballots sent to voters and 1,456 ballots have been returned, about 70 percent from Democratic voters. That means Brannan can still pull out a victory — though political sources said his months-long pitch to become speaker takes a serious hit, even if he prevails. Republicans won at least four other competitive council races.
