Brooks-Powers Looks to Defend New Council Seat in Southeast Queens

Less than three months after winning New York City’s first true test of ranked-choice voting, Councilmember Selvena Brooks-Powers is back on the ballot, this time to defend her seat against two former foes in Queens’ District 31.

Brooks-Powers, the former head of Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise contract compliance at the JFK Airport redesign, held a narrow lead in the special election and achieved a majority after eight rounds of balloting — the process by which candidates with the lowest vote total are eliminated and their totals reallocated to voters’ back-up choices. The race was New York City’s first experience with ranked-choice voting after a candidate won with a first-ballot majority in a special election three weeks earlier.