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You may not have noticed, but the entire 51-seat New York City Council is up for election this November. In this case, however, the undercards might carry much more weight than the prize fight for mayor, as the City Council has held more control over the legislation and policies that govern the five boroughs. There are currently only six councilmembers who are Republicans, but can the GOP pick off a few more seats this year? Joe Borelli is the former Minority Leader of the City Council; he appeared on 710 WOR’s Mendte in the Morning program and laid out the circumstances that could flip a couple of seats at City Hall.
“People will stay home during the general election,” Borelli opined for host Larry Mendte. “It’s an opportunity where the election might be decided by 3 or 4 thousand votes, where a really motivated, well-spoken, articulate candidate who really highlights how the radical City Council is doing a bad job in predominately Democratic, ethnic communities- those people can win. And we saw this happening most importantly in the Bronx two years ago… and they elected Kristy Marmorato. I mean, that’s the kind of thing that can happen, that has happened a little bit, and there are opportunities here and there to pick up these seats.”
Borelli points to one huge problem, however, for any Republican trying to crash the party in New York: “It’s an enrollment problem… When we think of purple states in the country, we think of states where enrollment is pretty much even. [But] we’re in hyper-hyper-majority Democratic districts in New York City, and it’s just a high mountain to overcome. It’s very difficult.”
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