More Democratic primary candidates for State Legislature in Red Hook

On October 5th, Prospect Heights resident Jabari Brisport launched a campaign for State Senate in District 25, which stretches from Bedford-Stuyvesant to Sunset Park and includes Red Hook. A math teacher at Medgar Evers College Preparatory School, Brisport ran for City Council on the Green Party line in 2017, earning 29 percent of the vote, but will now vie for the Democratic Party’s nomination. Brisport’s anticapitalist platform advocates for the expropriation of energy utilities, public investments in housing, and the decriminalization of sex work.

Five days after Brisport’s entry, rumors that incumbent State Senator Velmanette Montgomery would retire in 2020 gained credence when her former aide, Jason Salmon, announced his candidacy in the Democratic primary, as Salmon has indicated that he would not challenge Montgomery for the seat. By his account, Salmon will fight for police reform and an end to mass incarceration. 

Meanwhile, Red Hook’s State Assemblyman, Félix Ortiz, will face at least three challengers in District 51. Marcela Mitaynes, who works for the affordable housing nonprofit Neighbors Helping Neighbors, began her campaign in September, and last month, tenant organizer Genesis Aquino and Community Board 7 member Katherine Walsh also joined the race. 

According to the Brooklyn Eagle, Aquino hopes to strengthen protections for workers and immigrants and provide additional funding for NYCHA. Walsh’s platform focuses on environmental issues and facilitating cooperative home ownership for low-income New Yorkers through a reactivation of the Mitchell-Lama Program. 

Mitaynes and Brisport belong to a slate of four Brooklyn candidates endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), alongside Boris Santos in Assembly District 54 and Phara Souffrant Forrest in Assembly District 57. Last year, the DSA sent Julia Salazar of District 18 to the State Senate, where her long-shot Good Cause Eviction bill earned the support of tenant activists before falling short in the Assembly. All four DSA candidates consider the bill a major priority. 

The 2020 primary for the New York State Legislature will take place on June 23.