Politics in East New York are set to change.
Longtime political figure Charles Barron lost his reelection bid on Wednesday for Council District 42.
The city’s board of election showed this week that insurgent candidate Chris Banks holds an insurmountable lead with almost all the absentee ballots counted.
What You Need To Know
- On Wednesday, the city’s board of elections tally showed that insurgent Chris Banks held an insurmountable lead against incumbent Councilman Charles Barron
- NY1 met Barron in his district where he seemed grateful and plotting a possible comeback
- Barron lost by a margin of 43% to Banks’s 50%
Barron took the news rather well for an official who has served multiple terms in local and state office.
“My initial thought is to thank my community, my beloved community, for twenty years. We have beat all the candidates the machine has put forth,” Barron said.
Barron criticized low turnout, suggesting it may have played a factor in the result. He noted that only about 6,000 voters turned out, of which he received just over 2500 votes.
“The people that support us is way more than 3,000. They said Charles, we thought you had it. We thought you had it so we didn’t go out to vote. That’s what happened. This was an anomaly,” he said.
Charles and his wife, Inez, have been at the center of political power in the district that also includes New Lots, Starrett City, Remsen Village and Spring Creek.
Barron pointed to a number of accomplishments he and his wife have made in their time in office.
“We were able to establish three new $88 million schools, over 20,000 units of affordable housing. We have a new library coming in, two new libraries. We were able to stop Walmart from coming in and provide 6,000 jobs,” he said.
Barron also noted he felt pride in standing up for his beliefs and values. He most recently introduced a bill aimed at blocking the city’s move to replace traditional Medicare coverage for municipal retirees.
“I am so pleased to say that we stood up when everyone else caved in—I’m glad I supported these retirees,” Barron said.
One of the city’s largest unions DC 37 had threatened to pull support for candidates who supported Barron’s legislation, according to the Daily News.
Barron says he’s going to use his time out of office to focus on his organization Operation POWER and looks forward to future political fights.
“We, Operation POWER, will definitely bring the fire alive in 2025, and we might even knock down the assembly door in 2024,” Barron said.
For the meantime, some voters are hopeful Banks will be more responsive to their needs.
“Hopefully the right person that will get into office will listen to the people instead of doing their own thing after they get elected,” said one voter in the district.
Barron lost by a margin of 43% to Banks’s 50%.