Can Gounardes topple a Brooklyn GOP icon?
As he sat in a windowless office at his headquarters on 86th St. in Bay Ridge, with a sprawling map of southern Brooklyn on the wall behind him, Andrew Gounardes, the 33-year-old Democrat running for the District 22 seat in the State Senate, reflected on what has been an explosive campaign in a long-quiet district. The last few weeks of debates have sparked talk of truth and lies, cupcakes and cancer treatments, even Nazis and Martians.
With the balance of power in the State Senate on the line, Gounardes’s opponent, Marty Golden, a former police officer and Brooklyn’s only Republican state senator, is seeking his ninth term. But Democrats think they have a real chance this time of upsetting his reign. The district in play covers a wide swath of the borough, including nine neighborhoods from Bay Ridge to Gerritsen Beach.
“Marty Golden is someone who has given a lot to this community. He served in uniform, you can never take that away from someone,” Gounardes told The Bridge. “He’s been elected multiple times by this constituency, so you have to give him that.”