Marty Golden vs. Andrew Gounardes
Golden, the eight-term Republican incumbent, will face off against Democratic candidate Andrew Gounardes for the second time after beating Gounardes back in 2012 by a margin of more than 10,300 votes. If Gounardes prevails this time around, the race could flip the balance of power in Albany. The 22nd State Senate District covers Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach, Gravesend, and parts of Sheepshead Bay, Borough Park, and Midwood.
GOLDEN
• Spent a decade as a city police officer before serving a term in Council and then being elected to his current seat in 2002.
• Serves as the vice chairman of the Majority Conference in the upper chamber and as the Senate’s representative on the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s capital review board; chairs the Civil Service and Pensions committee and the Science, Technology, Incubation, and Entrepreneurship committee.
• Also running on the Conservative and Independent party lines.
• Born and raised in Bay Ridge, attended St. Patrick’s and Our Lady of Angels Grammar Schools and graduated from St. John’s University.
GOUNARDES
• Previously worked for former Bay Ridge Councilman Vincent Gentile and U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D–New Jersey), and now serves as counsel to Borough President Adams.
• Endorsed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and local Democratic leaders
• Also running on the Working Families and Reform party lines.
• Born and raised in Bay Ridge, and a graduated Fort Hamilton High School, Hunter College, and the George Washington University Law School.
ISSUES
• Gounardes supports the more-than-decade old Child Victims Act, which would extend the statute of limitations for survivors of child sex abuse to come forward. Golden opposes that bill in favor of a separate bill creating a Child Victims Fund to compensate victims with taxpayer money, which Gounardes opposes.
• Golden opposes the New York Health Act, which would establish a statewide single-payer healthcare system, and the Reproductive Health Act, which legalizes abortion in New York State — both of which Gounardes supports.
• The pair have also sparred over the city’s school-zone speed camera program, with Golden opposing a bill to preserve and expand the program, which Gounardes supports.
