Candidates are lining up to count their chickens before the eggs are hatched to replace City Council Member Jumaane Williams should he win the special election for public advocate.
Williams 45th District includes East Flatbush, Flatbush, Flatlands, Marine Park, and Midwood.
Should Williams, whose considerable Brooklyn support and name recognition make him an early frontrunner for the Feb. 26 public advocate special election, win the election, it would set up another special election for his current city council seat.
Should this come to pass, the early favorite for the council seat is Williams’ Deputy Chief of Staff Farah Louis, who has the support of Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte (D-Flatbush, Ditmas Park).
Bichotte is clearly a queenmaker in this part of Brooklyn as she is the chair of Williams campaign and has done a stellar job of getting Brooklyn Democratic Part boss Frank Seddio behind Williams. She also harbors political ambitions and could run for mayor without losing her seat in two years.
Bichotte heads the Flatbush area’s growing Haitian-American political machine, which includes her cousin, Josue “Josh” Pierre, the male Democratic District leader in Bichotte’s 42nd Assembly District, and newly elected Hatian-American Assemblywoman Mathylde Frontus (D-Coney Island, Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights).
Louis, who has a Master’s Degree from the NYU Wagner School of Public Policy, said she has been approached by a number of people about running, which resulted in her setting up an exploratory committee with the city Campaign Finance Board (CFB), which allows her to begin raising money.
“I have a relationship with all the elected officials in the district and the surrounding district including Senator Kevin Parker, Assembly members Helene Weinstein and Nick Perry, and City Councilman Chaim Deutsch. Right now, though, Assemblywoman Bichotte is the only one supporting me and all the rest are neutral and want to wait and see what happens in the public advocate’s race,” Louis said.
Not to be counted out, however, is Monique Chandler-Waterman, Founder/CEO of the community based organization East Flatbush Village, Inc., which services roughly a thousand families in everything from stopping violence, mental health, drug addiction and a large range of other social services.
Waterman also has worked in Williams office and is close to him. Both Waterman and Louis said that Williams encouraged them to run, but is staying out of the council race to focus on the public advocate’s race.
“I have been doing the work in the district for over a decade. Wherever I see issues, I find solutions,” said Waterman, who is married with four kids.
Also setting up an exploratory committee to raise money with the CFB is Xamayla Rose, a campaign consultant who used to work for former Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.
A wildcard candidate in the race is East Flatbush community advocate Anthony Beckford, who ran and lost against Bichotte in the recent assembly election.
“I am announcing that I will in fact run for the 45th City Council Seat again, to continue with the progressive change and the fight for the Flatbush and East Flatbush communities when it comes to Housing, Education, Social Justice and Immigration,” said Beckford in an emailed statement.
“We need true affordable housing for low-income and middle-income families and individuals, more adequate funding and resources for our children when it comes to their education, actual police accountability, bail reforms and the closing of Rikers as well as true protection of immigrant rights,” he added.
While Williams is the frontrunner in the public advocate’s race, there are a number of other strong candidates with a political base.
Should he lose the special election, the yoke could be on those with visions of a special city council race in their eyes.
