Bay Ridge state senate race bitter to the end
The bitter race between incumbent state Sen. Marty Golden (R-Bay Ridge-southern Brooklyn) and his Democratic challenger Andrew Gounardes, a contest punctuated by sharp exchanges between the two at debates, proved to be hot right to the end.
During the weekend before the election, the two campaigns exchanged accusations of dirty campaigning relating to the effects of Hurricane Sandy and the gasoline shortage.
Chris McCreight, Gounardes’s campaign manager, sent an email to reporters on Nov. 4 drawing attention to a flier he said was being circulated in the Dyker Heights and Bensonhurst portions of the state senate district. The fliers informed residents in those two neighborhoods that Golden was offering vouchers to motorists for free gas, but only to residents in the Bay Ridge end of the district, McCreight said.
The fliers also included a reminder for people to vote, according to McCreight, who called the literature “potentially underhanded campaigning.”