The Bronx’s lone Republican appeared headed to defeat Tuesday night by her Democratic challenger in an Election Day that saw a massive voter turnout in New York and elsewhere.
In one of just three truly contested Council races, incumbent Kristy Marmorato’s run as the representative in District 13 in the Northeast Bronx was in danger of ending at one term, as she sat just under 5% behind Shirley Aldebol, the Democratic party candidate and longtime labor union official, with 87% of the vote counted late Tuesday.
Aldebol was ahead of Marmorato 51.5% to 46.5%, Board of Election results showed. Marmorato’s potential defeat came in the context of the highest voter turnout in more than five decades. More than two million New York voted on Tuesday, the most since 1969, Board of Election figures show.
When she defeated Council Member Marjorie Velazquez in 2023, Marmorato became the first Republican elected in the Bronx in 40 years. She became prominent for opposing the Fortune Society’s Just Home housing development for formerly incarcerated people on the Jacobi Medical Center campus.
On Sept. 25, the Council approved the project, despite the objections of Marmorato and Mayor Adams. “This was about power, ego and politics,” Marmorato said at the time.
Earlier this year, she campaigned against a casino bid in the Bronx that was approved in late September after Mayor Adams vetoed a City Council vote to block the proposal. She was endorsed by the UFT and COBA.
Aldebol was a child welfare caseworker who has been an official with a series of labor unions, notably working as organizing director in Puerto Rico for the American Federal of State, County and Municipal Employees. She criticized Marmorato for failing to get along with her colleagues across the aisle, claiming that hurt the district.
In District 30 in Maspeth and Middle Village – an area almost evenly split between registered Democrats and registered Republicans – the race was very much in-house for Democrat Phil Wong and Republican Alicia Vaichunas, both of whom work for term-limited Council Member Robert Holden.
Holden had actually endorsed Curtis Sliwa in the mayoral race dubbing him “the only clear choice.” But in the Council race, Wong the Democrat with 55.2% of the vote was well ahead of Vaichunas with 44.8% of the vote after 95% of the vote had been counted.
But there are, it appears, only winners in that race, as each candidate pledged to hire their opponent, City and State previously reported.
In District 47 in Bay Ridge and Coney Island, Kayla Santosuosso, the term-limited Council Member Justin Brannan’s chief of staff, defeated Republican George Sarantopoulos 59.3% to 40.4%
“Southern Brooklyn is full of hardworking families who just want a fair shot – people who wake up early, word hard and deserve a city that works as hard as our own,” Santosuosso said in victory. My commitment is to focus relentlessly on the issues that matter most.”
Finally in District 19, incumbent Republican Vickie Paladino beat out firefighter Benjamin Chou 57.8% to 42% with 95% of the vote. With Marmorato’s loss, there are now five Republicans in the Council with 46 Democrats.
The four races highlighted an Election Day with all 51 Council seats in play, but many were destined to be held by Democrats or were uncontested.
The next Council will also feature a new Council Speaker as Adrienne Adams is out via term limits with Ty Hankerson succeeding in that district having run unopposed. Crystal Hudson and Julie Menin have emerged as favorites in that contest which is decided by a vote in the new Council.
