BRIC TV

Political journalists Julianne Cuba, reporter for the Brooklyn Paper and Brooklyn Daily covering south Brooklyn( left) and Ted Hamm, chair of the department for journalism and new media at St. Joseph's College.

In less than three months, registered New York City Republicans and Democrats will vote in the 2017. Well, at least some of them will. With little buzz so far about the mayoral matchups and relatively few officeholders facing term limits, this election year hasn’t generated a lot of excitement.

But there are key races in several Brooklyn districts. As expected, the two districts where incumbents must yield their seats thanks to term limit have drawn crowded fields of would-be replacements. But surprisingly, at least four incumbents appear to face real challenges. In what is expected to be a low turnout year, a couple thousand votes is all an insurgent might need to win an upset victory. And that could significantly affect the face of the Council, the race to be the next speaker and the kind of legislature the current or future mayor has to deal with.

On June 15’s BkLive,I was joined by political journalists Ted Hamm, chair of the department for journalism and new media at St. Joseph’s College and editor of the recent “Frederick Douglass in Brooklyn” and Julianne Cuba, reporter for the Brooklyn Paper and Brooklyn Daily covering south Brooklyn, to discuss where the races stand and what they mean.

* * * *
A rundown of the races

District 35

Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Crown Heights,

Prospect Heights, Bedford Stuyvesant

Incumbent: Laurie A. Cumbo

Other Candidates:

Jabari Brisport

Ede S. Fox

Scott A. Hutchins

Christine Parker

* * * *

District 38

Red Hook, Sunset Park, Windsor Terrace

Incumbent: Carlos Menchaca

Other Candidates:

Sara M. Gonzalez

Carmen V. Hulbert

Chris Q. Miao

Javier A. Nieves

Delvis Valdes

* * * *

District 40

Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Kensington, Midwood, Prospect Park, and Prospect Lefferts Gardens

Incumbent: Mathieu Eugene

Other Candidates:

Jennifer M. Berkley,

Brian-Christoph A. Cunningham

Pia Raymond

Rose G. Saint Albord

* * * *

District 41

Bedford-Stuyvesant, Ocean Hill-Brownsville, East Flatbush, Crown Heights

Incumbent: Darlene Mealy (term-limited)

Candidates:

Alicka Ampry-Samuel

Royston Antoine

Henry Butler

Leopold W. Cox

Kathleen Daniel

John Grant

Moreen A. King

Deidre L. Olivera

Cory Provost

Victor Jordan

Jamell N. Henderson

* * * *

District 43

Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach

Incumbent: Vincent Gentile (term-limited)

Candidates:

Justin L. Brannan

Robert P. Capano

Kevin Peter Carroll

Vincenzo Chirico

Khader El-Yateem

Liam A. McCabe

John Quaglione

Lucretia Regina-Potter

Nancy Tong

* * * *

District 48

Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach, Sheepshead Bay, Homecrest, Trump Village, Luna Park, Brightwater Towers, Midwood

Incumbent: Chaim M. Deutsch

Other Candidates:

Marat Filler

Steven Saperstein

Kalman Yeger