Brooklyn Borough President candidate Khari Edwards today received the endorsement of Brownsville City Councilmember Alicka Ampry-Samuel.
Ampry-Samuel is one of the three Brooklyn city council incumbents, along with Council Members Justin Brannan (D-Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights) and Kalman Yeger (D-Boro Park, Bensonhurst, Midwood, who are not term-limited. As non term-limited incumbents, and the majority of the council coming in as freshman members next year, both Ampry-Samuel and Brannan are considered to have the best shot of Brooklyn getting the City Council Speakership.
Edwards most recently served as vice president of External Affairs at the Brookdale Hospital Medical Center of the One Brooklyn Health System, where he was the first vice president of color. During his tenure at Brookdale, Edwards is credited with major community outreach in opening the doors of the hospital as a community resource and start several community-based initiatives in order to re-engage and realign local needs.
“I am thrilled to support Khari Edwards for Brooklyn Borough President. I’ve worked closely with Khari for many years and seen firsthand how he puts the community first. He is a connector, a fighter, and he gets it done,” said Ampry-Samuel.
“As Brooklyn goes through unprecedented changes and attempts to rebound from an unprecedented pandemic, we need leaders like Khari who understands the struggles of the most vulnerable in our borough,” she added.
“Council Member Amptry-Samuel exemplifies what it means to be public servants and I am humbled by her support,” said Edwards. “As Borough President, I will work her them to bring leadership to Borough Hall that puts people first.”
The endorsement could hurt City Councilman and frontrunning BP candidate Robert Cornegy Jr.’s (D-Bedford-Stuyvesant, Northern Crown Heights) chances in the position as it has the potential to divide Central Brooklyn’s Black vote.
However, much will be decided after the Campaign Finance Board (CFB) announces the next round of the $8-to-$1 public matching funds for small donations slated to be disbursed n Feb. 15.
Thus far, neither of the four leading candidates – Cornegy, City Councilmember Antonio Reynoso and Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon have met the criteria of having raised at least $50,094 in eligible small donations to receive matching funds.
Both Cornegy and Reynoso put in well over the threshold in matchable claims for the last Dec. 15, 2020 deadline, but the CFB found some of the claims did not meet the standards to match.
For the Feb. 15 deadline, Cornegy, Reynoso, Edwards and Simon all claim they have met this $50,094 threshold.
Cornegy put in $85,965 in matching claims, Reynoso put in $73,838 in matching claims, Edwards put in $73,838 in matching claims and Simon put in $67,174 in matching claims.
