Democratic Brooklyn Councilwoman Susan Zhuang has secured the Conservative Party’s line on November’s general election ballot after the party’s candidate dropped out and gave her the nomination, records reviewed by the Daily News reveal.
Zhuang, a conservative Democrat who has since being elected in 2023 allied herself with the Council’s Republicans and largely voted with them, did not herself collect petition signatures to secure the right-wing third party’s nomination, records show.
Rather, Nick Badolato, a Brooklyn Conservative Party operative, collected signatures to run on the party’s line against Zhuang. Badolato gathered enough signatures to qualify for the ballot line, but formally declined the Conservative Party’s nomination on April 3, records show.
That resulted in the party’s executive committee convening last Tuesday to give Zhuang its ballot line on the Nov. 4 general election ballot — meaning she’ll effectively run for reelection unopposed as she’s also on track to get the Democratic Party nomination, paperwork obtained by The News shows.
Zhuang didn’t return requests for comment Monday, and neither did Brooklyn Conservative Party Chairwoman Fran Vella-Marrone. Zhuang’s 43rd Council District spans a section of Brooklyn that includes Bensonhurst and Sunset Park.
Reached by phone, Badolato confirmed he amassed petitions to run for the 43rd Council District, but declined to say why he pulled out and signed over the Conservative line to Zhuang.
“I’m going to hold off on any comment about this for now,” said Badolato, who has sought the Conservative Party’s ballot line in previous local elections.
Zhuang’s Council tenure became a subject of intense scrutiny after she was arrested last year for allegedly biting a deputy NYPD chief in the arm during a protest against a proposed homeless shelter in her district. The Brooklyn district attorney’s office dropped the charges against her last week after she completed a “restorative justice” program that included meeting with the deputy chief.
The Council’s Ethics Committee still has an open proceeding against Zhuang over the biting incident. In announcing the probe last year, the Ethics Committee said it wouldn’t take any formal action until her criminal case was resolved.
Front page of the New York Daily News for July 18, 2024.
Even with potential ethics action looming, Zhuang’s clinching of the Conservative Party ballot line puts her on a glide path to reelection.
She is also expected to get the Democratic Party’s ballot line, as she faces no serious challengers in June’s Democratic primary. John Ricottone filed to run as a Republican in November’s general election for Zhuang’s district, but ultimately declined the nomination without a substitution, meaning there’ll be no GOP candidate on the ballot.