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.

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.

Jewish residents comprise roughly two thirds of the population in Brooklyn’s newly formed District 17, making U.S policy towards Israel a huge issue for many voters. Two of the district’s Jewish voters – one secular Jew, one orthodox – illustrate what happens when faith and politics meet.

The Republican Party typically has a strong hold on the conservative neighborhood of Midwood. But that may not prove true in 2012, as the neighborhood’s voters remain split on which presidential candidate is best, and why.

Age: 87

Marital Status: Widowed, has two children and two stepchildren.

Occupation: Retired seventeen years ago from her career as a tax accountant.

How Long She’s Lived in Brooklyn: She came to New York from Vienna in 1939, when she was fourteen years old, and attended High School in New York City. She raised her children in Brooklyn and alternates between living in Midwood and Boca Raton, Florida.

Simcha Felder defeated his young rival Avraham Tischler on Thursday, collecting a resounding 65 percent margin in the Democratic primary for state Senate District 17.

Final poll results show Felder received 5,676 votes to Tischler’s 1,184.

Low voter turnout, occasional malfunctioning of electronic voting machines and voters’ confusion with redistricted polling sites were some of the problems that affected the New York primary in Brooklyn’s State Senate District 17 Thursday.

State Senate District 17 candidate Avraham Tischler (D) greets voters outside a polling place located at PS 164 in Borough Park in today’s primary. He faces off Simcha Felder in the Democratic primary.