Incumbent Democrat Declares Victory In State Senate District 26

This article was last updated at 10:25 a.m. Wednesday. This article will be updated as results continue to come in. Keep refreshing the page for updates.

BROOKLYN, NY — Election results have been tallied, and State Senate District 26's Democratic incumbent, Andrew Gounardes, has declared victory over Republican challenger Vito LaBella.

Early tallies showed high voter turnout across New York City. More than 685,610 Brooklynites had checked in to vote by 6 p.m. Tuesday, including mail-in ballots, according to New York City's Board of Elections.

With 97.25 percent of votes counted, Gounardes declared victory with 78.44 percent of the vote, or 83,917 votes, according to the city's Board of Elections unofficial vote totals.

LaBella was far behind with 21.26 percent of the vote, or 22,747 votes.

When Gounardes was elected to the New York State Senate in 2018 for District 22, he took a seat from a Republican incumbent with just 1,271 more votes, according to Ballotpedia.

Then, in 2022, when the districts were redrawn, he ran for District 26 and won again by a sweeping majority of 79.1 percent.

"My office has helped thousands of our neighbors get access to government services or cut through red tape. If re-elected, I will continue to bring that spirit of service to the district," Gounardes told Patch ahead of election night.

LaBella, who was a lieutenant in the NYPD for 32 years and is now the Education and Public Safety Officer for Assemblymember Lester Chang, most recently ran for State Senate District 17 in 2022, when he lost by just 215 votes out of more than 35,000 cast, according to Ballotpedia.

LaBella told Patch that, if elected, he would "listen to all points of view and make specific choices that represent the wills of the people in each specific community."

State Senate District 26 represents parts of Downtown Brooklyn, DUMBO, Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, Gowanus, Red Hook, Sunset Park and Bay Ridge.