All three Democrats running for the new City Council seat in southern Brooklyn have said they would not join the Progressive Caucus, if elected.

They have stressed the stance at candidate forums and in interviews with NY1.

“I support police, I support law enforcement; that’s a value they don’t believe in,” Susan Zhuang said at a recent Asian Wave Alliance-hosted forum.


What You Need To Know

  • Candidates all say they staunchly oppose reducing funding for the NYPD

  • Ng and Chan, especially, tout several proposals to make housing more affordable

  • The Republican primary in District 43 pits Ying Tan against Vito LaBella

“I will not join them based on that one piece alone, which is defunding the police,” Stanley Ng said at the same event.

“I believe people are not really comfortable with the ‘defund the NYPD’ thing,” Wai Yee Chan told NY1. She did not attend the forum.

Chan, Ng and Zhuang have been trying to out-centrist each other in what appears to be a neck-neck-and-neck race in Council District 43.

The newly drawn so-called Asian opportunity seat includes parts of Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights and Sunset Park.

It was created to grow Asian-New Yorker clout.

While Progressive Caucus members explain they want some police tasks assigned instead to social service agencies, the three Democratic candidates in this race say they want the NYPD presence as it is or increased — plain and simple.

“More officers in our district,” Zhuang said.Their proposals to create low-cost housing, however, are more varied and nuanced.

Ng said he wants “more Section 8 for people so this way they can afford to live in areas like this.”

Chan said, “I plan to legalize basements, so that’s a win-win situation for the landlords and the tenants.”

Zhuang is chief of staff to State Assemblyman William Colton and mother to two young children.

“I also will make sure people are able to afford,” the neighborhood, she said, “especially the seniors.”

Chan is a former aide to Brooklyn Council member Justin Brannan, who left the Progressive Caucus. She is endorsed by several elected officials.

“I know how the City Council functions,” she said.

Education advocate Ng has cast himself as the outsider.

He was part of a class-action lawsuit against the city alleging that the exclusion of Asian Americans from a specialized high school prep program was discrimination.

“What people don’t realize is this district alone sends more than 500 kids into the specialized high schools every year,” Ng said. “And when that happens, it lowers the demand on our local schools.”

In the Republican primary for the district, Ying Tan and Vito LaBella are competing.

Early voting begins on June 17, and Primary Day is June 27.