After a heated race, Haitian American Farah Louis emerged victorious in the special election to replace Jumaane Williams to represent the 45th Council District in Brooklyn.
“This campaign has shown me the beauty, resiliency and power of this district, ” Louis said. “Every person who contributed, every person who volunteered, every person who voted, and every person who offered a word of encouragement played an integral part in tonight’s outcome.”
As of 9:35 p.m. and 99 percent of the precincts reporting, Louis beat out Williams’ choice to succeed him, Monique Chandler-Waterman, with 42.4 percent of the vote.
Many assumed Williams would knight Louis, his former deputy chief of staff, as his choice to replace him. But to the surprise and anger of the district’s Haitian community, Williams on April 17 opted to endorse Chandler-Waterman during a speech on Toussaint L’overture Boulevard in the district’s Little Haiti area.
Despite the lack of support from Williams, whom she worked for in a number of roles in his office for six years, Louis was able to secure backing from the community.
“I promise to be a good steward of our resources. I promise to listen,” she said. “I promise to do all that I can to build a Brooklyn we can be proud of.”
Louis will hold the seat until the end of the year. There’ll also be another election in June and November to determine whether she will hold the seat until the end of Williams’s term, which runs through 2021.