On June 24, in a city where conservative politicians are few and far between, two popular candidates will face off in a primary that is igniting both optimism and frustration throughout Brooklyn’s Republican Party.
Inna Vernikov is the incumbent member of New York City Council’s 48th district. The district includes the communities of Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach, Gravesend, and parts of Midwood and Sheepshead Bay. Vernikov’s challenger is Ari Kagan, currently the senior advisor for New York State Senator Steve Chan, and a former City Council member for New York’s District 47 until he lost reelection to Democrat Justin Brannan in 2023. Today Vernikov serves as City Council’s Minority Whip, and also has former ties to New York State governance, having served as an aide to Assemblyman Dov Hikind. She says she welcomes her challenger.
“I believe there’s no candidate in office that’s entitled to a seat,” Vernikov told The Jewish Press. “So I welcome a primary challenge or a general election challenge. We’re in a democracy and I think everyone has to earn the vote of the people.”
Local conservative groups expressed strong opinions for both candidates. After the political group Donald J. Trump Kings County Republican Club (KCRC) voted to endorse Kagan in the upcoming primary, the New York Young Republicans Club posted the following statement on their website, calling for the KCRC to “immediately rescind its endorsement of Ari Kagan and throw its weight behind Councilwoman Vernikov, the successful incumbent who shares President Donald J. Trump’s vision and support.” The statement concluded, “It is dishonest for a club to adopt the President’s name and then support candidates that contrast sharply with his priorities.”
While local groups make strong arguments for why their candidate is the best choice, the similarities between the two candidates is remarkable. Vernikov and Kagan are both immigrants born in the former Soviet Union; Vernikov is from Ukraine and Kagan is from Belarus.
“I was born in Minsk, Belarus, to amazing parents,” Kagan told The Jewish Press. “My father was the only one in his family to escape the Minsk ghetto. He was my inspiration and my example my whole life. He tried to help everyone; we had a very small apartment but he took in people who had nowhere to go.”
“I came to America in 1993,” Kagan continued, “and I lived in Bensonhurst and at that time I showed up at Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst (JCH) and I said ‘I want to volunteer.’ They looked at me and said, ‘When did you come to America?’ and I said, ‘Yesterday.” Kagan said that day he became a volunteer.
Both Vernikov and Kagan began their political careers as Democrats, but later changed parties after feeling frustrated. Vernikov was a successful lawyer at her own Manhattan law firm when she first heard the call to public office.
“I was watching New York City burn in 2020 due to the BLM (Black Lives Matter) riots,” Vernikov said. Then came the ‘defund the police’ movement. “I really didn’t like what I saw, so I decided I can’t be a bystander, I have to take action.”
Vernikov switched to the Republican Party before running for office. “The Democratic Party no longer represents us,” she declared, and pointed to the growing discontent in her district. “At the time the district was 8-1 Democrat and I would walk the streets and the sentiment was unanimous against the Democratic Party, and my team really seemed to be the only ones who understood that.”
Kagan was a successful Russian language journalist before he entered local politics. “I would write a lot about challenges for immigrants,” Kagan shared, “and I would ask why no one was fixing the boardwalk, or addressing the housing crisis, or mental health, and why no one cared about all the broken (subway) escalators in Brighton Beach. I asked myself what are these Congress people and Senators doing?” After having been elected as A Democrat, Kagan switched to the Republican Party in 2022. “I became very frustrated with the Democratic Party, especially when it came to public safety and education, and their all of a sudden focus on gender ideology.”
When asked about what concerns her most about her challenger, Vernikov pointed out Kagan has run for office several times as a Democrat and had in the past voted with Democrats on progressive issues. She also claims that when Kagan served on City Council, he refused to join City Council’s Common Sense Caucus, a bipartisan group which fought against defunding the police, sanctuary city status and antisemitism. “I think we need someone who is authentic,” Vernikov said.
Kagan expressed his concerns as well. “I feel that today in the 48th district people are not represented well enough, because when I was Councilman of the 47th District, people were constantly asking me for help in the 48th – and my response was why don’t you ask Councilwoman Vernikov? So I realized people were not serviced enough.”
On their biggest priorities if elected, Vernikov said, “My two biggest are public safety and sanitation. The third is homeless encampments, but also people are really upset about the composting. Also we need to increase police funding, uncuff our officers and to cancel the current bail reform policies. These we are constantly fighting for.”
For Kagan, the biggest issue in the district is more security cameras along the boardwalk, and at parks and religious organizations. Also, “we have a lot of families and we need more children’s programs. Not everyone can afford to go to summer camp,” he said.
“My first business is to host town halls in every neighborhood in the 48th district,” Kagan said, “so people will be able to ask about issues they care about: parks policing, education, and the various city departments.”
While Kagan enjoys the endorsement of groups like KCRC, Vernikov points out she has the endorsements of the New York City police unions. She is also proud of the work she has done addressing antisemitism at the city’s flagship university, CUNY (City University of New York). “I’ve been watching CUNY since 2015 and as soon as I got into office I wanted to make sure we highlighted the antisemitic issues at CUNY,” she said. CUNY is compromise of 25 campuses throughout the city, and has struggled to address Jewish students claims of antisemitism from student-led campus groups such as Students for Justice In Palestine. “Five or six of the campuses are very problematic,” Vernikov said. “We requested a hearing on antisemitism at CUNY and we had many witnesses. After that hearing we received the attention of the governor and even some Democrats. It’s a bipartisan issue. So, there was an investigation of antisemitism, and because we highlighted and exposed what was happening it was concluded there was a pervasive problem at CUNY.” Vernikov said their work at CUNY is still ongoing.
Kagan said he believes colleges and universities with rampant antisemitism issues should never receive city, state or federal money. “They are pretending it’s about the First Amendment,” he said. “The city should not allow such demonstrations; to me the situation is still completely out of control.”
Whoever wins the primary has a long road ahead and a mountain of major issues they must boldly address in a City Council, which has historically been overwhelmingly Democratic and progressive.
