Supermajority Secured After Southern Brooklyn Swing

Joey Cohen-Saban captured 61% of the vote in Assembly District 45, defeating incumbent Michael Novakhov by a margin exceeding 5,000 votes. This result marked the largest margin of victory in the four contested southern Brooklyn districts on Tuesday. According to unofficial Board of Elections data, Cohen-Saban received 13,636 votes in a district that recorded 22,140 total ballots, a turnout level nearly identical to the 23,031 votes cast in the 2022 election.

Cohen-Saban’s win was part of a broader Democratic sweep in the borough’s conservative heartland. Chris McCreight defeated Alec Brook-Krasny in AD-46 with 55% of the vote, while Larry He took state Senate District 17 and Joyce Xie won AD-49 with 52% of the total. Xie defeated Lester Chang by approximately 800 votes to become the first Asian woman to represent that district. He’s victory in SD-17 provided the final piece needed for Democrats to secure a veto-proof supermajority in the state Senate.

The results reversed the political shifts of 2022, when Republicans unseated three Democratic incumbents in the same region. That year, Novakhov, Brook-Krasny, and Lester Chang won their respective seats in a wave of red districts. Prior to this election, Democrats had struggled to maintain support in areas with large Eastern European and Asian populations, including Brighton Beach and Sheepshead Bay. In 2024, Cohen-Saban fell short of Novakhov by 232 votes, and McCreight lost to Brook-Krasny.

Cohen-Saban attributed his victory to a lack of state infrastructure funding during his opponent's tenure. He stated that not a single bill passed for his district and that state funding for community organizations had dried up. McCreight emphasized rising living costs and utility bills in AD-46, claiming Brook-Krasny’s office was not functional. Former Council Member Justin Brannan supported McCreight, arguing that Brook-Krasny failed to empathize with constituents facing financial strain.

Republican leaders characterized the losses as a reaction to national politics rather than local performance. Liam McCabe, chairman of the Brooklyn Republican Party, described the outcome as a temporary national mood affecting moderate voters. Brook-Krasny called the result an avalanche that hit Republicans, noting that he considered it his best campaign ever but was surprised by the defeat. Steven Chan, who lost to He in SD-17, cited low voter turnout of about 39,000 in his statement.

Hakeem Jeffries, the House Minority Leader who is poised to become the first Black Speaker of the House, described the national results as an American tsunami during a Wednesday press conference. In Brooklyn, district leader Julio Peña III expressed pleasant shock at the large margins of victory, stating that the sweep indicated voters were ready for new leadership. The Brooklyn Democratic Party has been engaged in an internal conflict over leadership for months, with factions led by former chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn and longtime district leader Peña III battling for control.