(NewsNation) — Since the ascension of a more moderate Democratic mayor in 2022, shakeups in New York City politics have many asking whether the city is adopting a more moderate political orientation.
Tuesday’s local government elections offered at least a little more evidence for this theory.
While most races went exactly as expected, there was at least one pleasant surprise for the city’s Republicans, who have been a small minority for years.
They won a seat in the Bronx, where Republican Kristy Marmorato defeated incumbent Democratic lawmaker Marjorie Velázquez.
“That was huge,” Ryan Girdusky, a Republican political consultant based in the city, said of GOP efforts in New York. “That was the seat they were putting all their emphasis on.”
Marmorato’s campaign was focused on an upzoning project that would’ve allowed multistory buildings in a neighborhood where family homes were the norm.
After her victory, Marmorato said she’d like to work on addressing public safety issues, taking aim at bail reform as one example.
Gidursky pointed to gains among Asian and Hispanic voters as a reason for Republican optimism.
“Republicans in Manhattan did well by New York standards in one area, and that was Chinatown,” he noted.
But he suggested gerrymandering makes it difficult for Republicans to gain much power in the local government.
Democrats hold a commanding majority on the city council, and it’s unlikely that Republicans will win top offices like the mayor soon.