Politics in eastern New York is about to change.
Longtime political figure Charles Barron lost his re-election bid for Council District 42 on Wednesday.
The city’s board of elections showed this week that insurgent candidate Chris Banks has an insurmountable lead with nearly all absentee ballots counted.
What you need to know
On Wednesday, the city’s board of elections count showed insurgent Chris Banks with an insurmountable lead against incumbent Councilman Charles Barron.
NY1 caught up with Barron in his district where he seemed grateful and planning a possible comeback
Barron lost by a margin of 43% to Banks’ 50%
Barron took the news pretty well for a public servant who has served several terms in local and state office.
“My initial thought is to thank my community, my beloved community, for twenty years. We beat every candidate the machine has put up,” Barron said.
Barron criticized the low turnout, suggesting it may have played a factor in the outcome. He noted that only about 6,000 voters attended, of which he received just over 2,500 votes.
“The people who support us are much more than 3,000. They said Charles, we thought you had it. We thought you had it, so we didn’t go out and vote. This is what happened. That was an anomaly,” he said.
Charles and his wife, Inez, have been at the center of political power in the district that also includes New Lots, Starrett City, Remsen Village and Spring Creek.
Barron pointed to a number of accomplishments he and his wife have achieved during their time in office.
“We were able to put in three new $88 million schools, over 20,000 units of affordable housing. We have a new library, two new libraries. We were able to keep Walmart from coming in and provide 6,000 jobs,” he said.
Barron also noted that he was proud to stand up for his beliefs and values. He recently introduced a bill aimed at blocking the city’s move to replace traditional Medicare coverage for city retirees.
“I’m very happy to say that we stood up when everyone else caved in; I’m happy to have supported these retirees,” Barron said.
One of the city’s largest unions, DC 37, had threatened to pull the plug on candidates supporting Barron’s legislation, according to the Daily News.
Barron says he will use his time away from the office to focus on his organization Operation POWER and looks forward to future political fights.
“We, Operation POWER, will certainly bring fire to life in 2025, and we might even knock down the assembly door in 2024,” Barron said.
Meanwhile, some voters trust banks to be more responsive to their needs.
“Hopefully the right person who gets into office will listen to the people instead of doing their own thing after being elected,” said one voter in the district.
Barron lost by a margin of 43% to Banks’ 50%.
