Brooklyn Campaign

Watch Simcha Felder’s victory speech.

As Democratic President Barack Obama swept to a re-election victory Tuesday night, Brooklyn voters sent a Republican and a conservative Democrat to Albany to represent their newly drawn Senate districts.

The shadow of last week’s hurricane hung over Election Day in Brooklyn, as voters in areas hit hardest by the storm headed to the polls today.

Throughout the U.S., lower-income voters tend to favor President Barack Obama’s re-election. But in Brooklyn, one of the borough’s poorer neighborhoods is also one of those most likely to vote Tuesday for Republican Mitt Romney.

As the Nov. 6 election approaches, Sen. Golden and his Democratic challenger Andrew Gounardes have squared off at recent events in Dyker Heights and Bay Ridge where community members had the opportunity to ask the two candidates about the issues that matter to them. On both occasions, Golden came under fire for his record on women’s issues—in particular, his record of addressing gender discrimination in the workplace.

State Sen. Martin Golden called spying on mosques “absolutely wrong” at a forum dominated by Arab and Muslim voters, a stark contrast to his earlier stance praising the NYPD’s counterterrorism efforts, which include infiltrating and eavesdropping on Muslim places of gathering and worship.

Republican Sen. Marty Golden and Democratic challenger Andrew Gounardes faced off in their first debate of the race at Saint Phillip’s Episcopal Church in Dyker Heights on Tuesday.