Nikki Lucas has secured the Democratic nomination to run for Brooklyn’s 60th Assembly District in a Feb. 15 special election.
Lucas, a 20-year Brooklyn resident, has worked as a community activist, parent advocate and entrepreneur, and recently ran for City Council in District 42, Kings County Democratic Party said in a statement.
The Assembly seat she is nominated for, which serves East New York, Starrett City, and parts of Canarsie and Brownsville, was left open when former Assemblymember Charles Barron beat Lucas in the race for the district’s City Council seat.
Members of the Democratic party’s county committee came together Monday to fill the nomination, voting for Lucas over contender Keron Alleyne, a former Barron staffer. A total of 167 county committee members voted, with Lucas winning 13,882.5 weighted votes to Alleyne’s 1,953.75.
Lucas, a longtime critic of Charles Barron and his wife, former Councilmember Inez Barron, told the County Committee that it was time to do things differently, adding that the Barron’s style of Black socialist politics had done little to benefit East New York, according to Brooklyn Paper.
“I’m about making partnerships,” Lucas said, adding she would work as a collaborator to serve the community.
“I’m not gonna agree with you all the time, I can’t agree with you all the time. But the one or two things that I can work with you, that’s what we’re gonna champion.”
The vote comes as a blow to Barrons, who had long governed over East New York in some capacity, as the couple had backed Alleyne to succeed Charles Barron in the role. At Monday’s meeting, Barron said the election process was a sham, and that the only reason they turned up to the meeting was out of respect for those who signed their petitions, Brooklyn Paper reports.
Alleyne signaled he would be running an independent campaign against Lucas in the upcoming special election.
Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn said Lucas was a dedicated activist in her community, whose platform included reforming the police, fighting homelessness, creating affordable housing and ending gun violence.
"We are pleased to have held a successful nominating meeting, and are confident that Nikki, as the Democratic Party candidate, will be a formidable contender in the special election."
