One of the most closely watched City Council races is shaping up in south Brooklyn’s 48th District, where two fresh members of their respective parties are duking it out to replace disgraced former Councilmember Chaim Deutsch, who was booted from the Council earlier this year after being convicted of tax fraud.
The race in the district, which includes Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach, Sheepshead Bay, Homecrest, and Midwood, is between special education teacher Steven Saperstein, the Democratic nominee, and attorney Inna Vernikov, the Republican nominee. While the southern Kings County district historically elects Democrats to its local legislative offices, it is an area of strong showing for Republicans in mayoral, gubernatorial, and presidential races (the area was one of Donald Trump’s strongest regions in the five boroughs in 2016 and 2020), and Deutsch was known as a conservative firebrand despite being a Democrat.
