Brooklyn activist and Bay Ridge resident Chris McCreight today officially announced today that he is running in the Democratic primary for the open seat in the 46th Assembly District covering Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Seagate, Coney Island and Brighton Beach.
The seat was left open with the resignation of former Assembly Member Pam Harris (D), who is facing multi counts of felony corruption charges related to allegations she used government money allocated to her non-profit, Coney Island Generation Gap, for personal use.
“I’m running for Assembly to stand up for everybody, no matter age, gender, race, sexual orientation, religion or income. From Bay Ridge to Brighton Beach, every neighborhood deserves to be treated equally,” said McCreight. “We need to fix our subways, fight for our public schools, protect seniors, pass sensible and effective gun control laws, tackle the opioid epidemic, and stand up to President Trump on the state level.”
McCreight currently serves as Chief of Staff to Councilman Justin Brannan. Before that he worked as a project manager in one largest residential complexes in Coney Island giving him vast experience in all parts of the 46th District. Prior to that, he worked in the Assembly as Policy and Communications Director for former Assemblyman Karim Camara (D-Crown Heights).
McCreight made his intentions to run known last Thursday. That night he was endorsed by the Bay Ridge Democrats and Lambda Independent Democrats.
“It’s really an honor to be endorsed by the Bay Ridge Democrats, a club I helped found nearly a decade ago. It’s also an honor to be endorsed by LID, especially now that the Trump administration has sought to take away rights from LGBTQ people. Not only will I fight to keep the progress we’ve made, I will push for the passage of GENDA and other protections in Albany,” McCreight promised.
McCreight also addressed the elephant in the room—political corruption.
“There are plenty of ways to make a lot of money, being an elected official shouldn’t be one of them. We need comprehensive ethics reform in Albany and that includes reforming our corrupt campaign finance system. What we have right now often amounts to legalized bribery. Laws should be passed based on the merits, not campaign donations. I will lead the charge in helping ordinary people take back their government from big campaign donors and special interests that couldn’t care less about us.”
Also running on the Democratic side is Coney Island activist and educator Mathylde Frontus, and Brighton Beach/Coney Island resident and political activist Ethan Lustig-Elgrably.
Thus far, there is one announced Republican Candidate, Steve Saperstein.
The primary is Sept. 13 and the general election in November 6.
