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Brooklyn Councilman Justin Brannan won a bruising re-election battle by around 300 votes over his Republican rival Brian Fox Tuesday after nearly 2,000 absentee ballots were counted this week.
Fox led Brannan by 255 votes in the unofficial machine count on Election Night — 12,145 votes to 11,890 votes in the 43rd district that includes Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bath Beach and Bensonhurst.
But the lion’s share of mail-in ballots were sent by registered Democrats, and Brannan, who is also a candidate for Council speaker, overtook Fox and led by more than 300 votes with the count nearly completed.
Fox, who runs a job-recruiting company, conceded the race to Brannan in a statement released on Tuesday.
“I want to thank the thousands of Brooklyn voters — of all parties — who supported my crime-fighting bid for New York City Council. Although we came up short in the end, we managed to come within one percentage point of victory, something none of the so-called experts predicted,” Fox said.
Brannan, meanwhile, acted like a sore winner, accusing Fox of running a slimy campaign.
“We won! Despite being up against a red wave driven by misinformation, lies, and one of the dirtiest campaigns southern Brooklyn has ever seen – we prevailed,” Brannan said in a tweet.
“We refused to be defined by simplistic right or left labels. We refused to be defined by the falsehoods of my opponent.”
Fox said he would remain active in politics.
“This race made me believe even more strongly that change is needed within the City Council if we want to restore the quality of life New Yorkers expect. And as far as Brian Fox and the Republican movement in Brooklyn is concerned, we’re just getting started,” he said.
Fox , who sought to tie Brannan to far-left policies, also hit the councilman directly for getting caught speeding 16 times in school zones, a revelation first reported by The Post.
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