The Brooklyn Conservative Party made an early endorsement for the November general election this week, throwing its support behind Democratic Council Member Susan Zhuang.
Zhuang, a conservative Democrat running for re-election in southern Brooklyn’s District 43, has built her re-election campaign on public safety, affordable housing, and other issues “facing our new Asian-majority district,” according to her website.
“Council Member Susan Zhuang will work with us to put more police on our streets, to make our schools safe and will defend our neighborhoods and community-based small businesses,” said Fran Vella-Marrone, chair of the Brooklyn Conservative Party, in a statement.
The freshman council member often votes alongside council Republicans and is one of two Democrats on the body’s seven-member Common Sense Caucus. Her district, the city’s first Asian-majority council district, is increasingly conservative — President Donald Trump won 60% of the district’s vote in the 2024 election.
“My constituents — many of whom are immigrants — seek stability, honest government and fairness,” Zhuang said in a statement. “The Conservative Party endorsement fits well with their values.”
But Zhuang did not seek out the party’s endorsement or collect petitions to appear on the Conservative Party line come November, according to James Christopher, spokesperson for the Brooklyn Democratic Party.
“The Conservative candidate running against Zhuang clearly did not see a winning path, so after he dropped out, they gave up that nomination to Zhuang; a rising star in the Democratic Party whose strong leadership and empowering track record resonate with middle and working class voters,” he told Brooklyn Paper.
According to the New York Daily News, Conservative candidate Nick Badolato had gathered enough signatures to run against Zhuang on the party line — but declined its endorsement early this month.
That led the party to endorse Zhuang, who is now likely to be completely unopposed in both the primary this summer and in the November general election.
Vella-Mallone did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday, and Brooklyn Paper was not immediately able to reach Badolato.
The Brooklyn Democratic Party has yet to formally endorse candidates, Christopher said, but will “continue to ardently support” Zhuang.
“As our borough’s first Chinese-American representative in the City Council, Zhuang has made immense progress uplifting and uniting South Brooklyn, and will meet the moment to deliver another decisive Democratic victory,” he said.
Zhuang was “very happy” to receive the endorsement, said campaign manager Hank Sheinkopf, and “would like to be” on the Conservative Party line — along with the Democratic party line – on the ballot this fall.
Candidates frequently appear on multiple party lines — left-leaning Democrats in Brooklyn often run as members of both the Democratic party and the Working Families Party, while more conservative Dems sometimes run as Democrats and Conservatives.
Former Democratic state Senator Simcha Felder, for example, whose district overlapped somewhat with Zhuang’s, often ran as a Democrat, Republican, and Conservative; as does Assembly Member Simcha Eichenstein.
Voters in D43 have “become much more conservative,” Sheinkopf said, and are “very concerned about traditional issues.”
“It’s about the basic value structure that has nothing to do with abortion, or other Conservative issues, but has a lot to do with quality of life conditions, more concern about local issues, and a step away from the consistent left-leaning City Council,” he said.
Zhuang’s constituents remained largely supportive of their council member last year after she was arrested for biting a police officer at a protest against a Gravesend homeless shelter, claiming she was protecting an elderly protester and standing up for the community.
Criminal charges against Zhuang were dropped this month after she completed a restorative justice program, though she may still face an ethics investigation by the City Council itself.
