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mowotlarx OP t1_iz05dmg wrote

>Brooklyn Councilman Ari Kagan is expected to switch his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican on Monday — and announce a general election challenge against one of his Democratic colleagues, three sources familiar with the matter told the Daily News.

>Kagan, who was first elected in 2021 to represent Coney Island and other southern Brooklyn neighborhoods, is set to officially declare he’s becoming a Republican during an afternoon press conference at City Hall, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

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Salty-University t1_iz0rnpb wrote

Not surprising at all. The city council chose to screw Kagan out of his current district lines. Why compete in two difficult races (competitive Democratic primary against fellow Councilmember Justin Brannan and a competitive general election against a nameless Republican in a right-leaning district) when he could skip a step and challenge Brannan directly in just a single race? The precedent was set when this strategy worked for Alec Brook-Krasny last month.

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PiffityPoffity t1_iz14svl wrote

What an asshole. His constituents elected him as a Democrat, and now he’s screwing them by making himself less effective by joining the powerless minority.

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shant_jan t1_iz19bik wrote

while this is an absolute disservice to the people who voted him in, i am kinda all for NYC politics moving out from the giant umbrella of "we are all democrats even if some are leftists while others are basically what counted as a mainstream republican in 2012."

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werdnak84 t1_iz2oi6i wrote

I heard of several stories by now of Democrats switching over to Republicans! Why do you never hear about Republicans switching over to Democrats!?

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TonyzTone t1_iz2okft wrote

I’m not a fan of this but he (1) didn’t get any committee and (2) he’s gotten pretty shafted in redistricting. He’s making a basic calculation that caucusing as a Democrat isn’t helping him at all.

Either he stays a Dem and runs against Brennan in the primary, or runs as a Rep and maybe stands a chance.

He’s a sitting Council Member; he’ll still have discretionary funds.

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_Maxolotl t1_iz2tq3r wrote

Oh no, are we about to go from having an overwhelming democratic supermajority on the City Council to (checks notes) having an overwhelming democratic supermajority on the City Council?

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_Maxolotl t1_iz2tymc wrote

NYC should just have nonpartisan ranked choice elections like a bunch of big cities out west do. Politicians end up having to be a lot more clear about what their ideas are when they don't have a simple label to run on.

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TheOneFreeEngineer t1_iz32326 wrote

Really? The party he grew up in was a hair away from signing housing and empliyeement as human rights in the 1930/1940s. And he railed against the racist wing of the party which has since become disorganized or left completely. If anything he'd be disgusted by how economically conservative the party became (lead by the Clinton presidency)

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