Democrat Kayla Santosuosso declared victory Tuesday night in the contest for southern Brooklyn’s Council District 47, becoming the first woman to represent the district, after a contentious race against Republican George Sarantopoulos.
As of 10 p.m. on Nov. 4, Santosuosso had 59% of the vote, while Sarantopoulos had just over 40%, with 95% of scanners reporting, according to unofficial results from the New York City Board of Elections. The two were vying to succeed incumbent Democrat Justin Brannan, who is term-limited.
At an election night watch party at Salty Dog, Santosuosso told Brooklyn Paper that her campaign’s positive vision, love for Bay Ridge and commitment to public service helped secure her victory.
“I think that positive vision is what people want right now,” she said. “And you know, we were very lucky that we felt support from across the political spectrum. And I intend to do everybody who supported us and everybody who didn’t support us proud.”
Just a mile away at The Wicked Monk, Sarantopoulos’ supporters remained hopeful even as Santuosso’s lead grew.
Campaign manager Colby Conerly said voter turnout had been particularly high in “a lot of our strongholds” including Gravesend, Bath Beach and Sea Gate.
“I wish this was more of a fun election, but there’s so much at stake right now in New York City, especially in southern Brooklyn,” he said. “A lot of people are scared, they want to be comforted. They want to hear multiple different sides and they want to, I think everyone can agree, they just want the city to be safe.”
Conerly said southern Brooklyn — and Coney Island in particular — are “kind of deprived, it’s kind of forgotten,” by the city, and has been neglected with regard to public transit, jobs and development.
“Those people, they can’t wait four more years,” Conerly said. “They can’t even wait a year or two from now. They need jobs down there, they need a ferry service to take them where they can get jobs. And they need the jobs to come to Coney Island.”
The race was one of the most widely-watched in New York City. District 47, which includes most of Bay Ridge, Coney Island and Sea Gate as well as parts of Dyker Heights, Bath Beach and Gravesend is deep purple, and has seen several close races in recent years.
In 2021, before redistricting changed district lines, Brannan defeated Republican Brian Fox by just a few hundred votes in District 43. Two years later, Brannan took a more decisive 3,000-vote victory over newly-minted Republican Ari Kagan in District 47 in what was widely expected to be a much closer race.
Santosuosso, a lawyer and community advocate who currently serves as Brannan’s chief counsel, cruised to victory in the Democratic primary last June, securing nearly 80% of the vote.
The Republican primary proved more contentious. Sarantopoulos wound up just 16 votes ahead of Richie Barsamian, resulting in an automatic recount and allegations of voter fraud. More than a month after the election, Sarantopoulos was certified as the winner.
More than 6,800 votes separated the two candidates when Santosuosso declared victory in the Nov. 4 general election.
Her victory came as Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani celebrated his own win at the Brooklyn Paramount in Downtown Brooklyn, setting the stage for her to work alongside the newly elected mayor.
Back home in her district, she vowed to prioritize street safety, support for families and the revitalization of local businesses.
“One of the things that resonated with a lot of people in the district was street safety, making our streets and sidewalks safer and cleaner for everyone,” she told Brooklyn Paper. “We want to make sure we fight for a universal child care program so that families don’t have that extra rent payment in child care that they have to manage each month. And we want to support our small businesses and make sure our commercial districts are thriving, especially since they’re the ones that are still recovering post-COVID. And we’re going to do all of that.”
A ‘blue wave’
Conceding to supporters at The Wicked Monk, Sarantopoulos acknowledged he was up against “a blue wave.”
“I think we got lucky once that we won this primary, but the second time, we were fighting a blue wave,” he said. “I believe it’s one of those years, like an Obama year, where we are trying to fight up against that wave, and it was just a bad year.”
Sarantopoulos thanked those in the room for believing in him and vowed to try to work with Santosuosso (whom he called to congratulate), but expressed doubts about her ability to take care of the district — particularly Coney Island.
“I will do my best to work with Kayla. We live here. I will still fight for this community,” he said. “I will fight for it each and every day, and I will not sell out our values.”
He told the crowd, “This is not the last they’ve heard of George Sarantopoulos.” When asked by Brooklyn Paper if that could mean another political run, he shrugged, and said it again.
Passing the torch
Santosuosso’s predecessor — and current boss — credited her empathy, intelligence and dedication to public service with helping secure her victory.
“Kayla takes public service very seriously, so she’s going to take this job very seriously, and so long as you can leave this district a little bit better than how you found it, that’s more than most will ever do,” Brannan said, noting that it was particularly meaningful to him that Santosuosso would be the first woman to represent the 47th District.
“When I first got elected, I said, very early on, I want my successor to be a woman, not knowing at that time it was going to be Kayla. It’s just perfect, and she worked her ass off, and she’s going to be great, because she knows that the campaign is the work you do every day, helping people, making people’s lives better. It isn’t brain surgery.”
Elsewhere in the borough, there were no major surprises on election night, as incumbents — including Borough President Antonio Reynoso and Council members Shahana Hanif and Alexa Avilés — held onto their seats despite contentious primaries and opposition campaigns that appeared to ramp up in recent weeks.
This is a breaking news story. Check back on Wednesday, Nov. 5 for a full breakdown of how Brooklyn voted in the 2025 general election.
