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.

Most sixteen year olds spend summer vacation driving their first cars and their parents crazy. Ahsan Ali, 16, is not your average teenager.

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.

In a clothing store that sells colorful hijabs, skirts, and dresses, Kaid sits and listens to music while she awaits for costumers. Two blocks away, Larsen sits on a bench, a local resident for over forty years. Both have decided that they will not vote in any election this year because they don’t see their communities and their concerns addressed.

Orthodox Judaism influences the political thinking of both Moshe Friedman, 43, and Joseph Hayon, 34, two citizens of District 17. Although steeped in common values, the two men will nevertheless vote for different presidential candidates.

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.