In what, at times, resembled more of a circus-like atmosphere than a political debate, the three Republican candidates in the New York City Council District 13 race took jabs at each other often during an acrimonious Schneps Media/PoliticsNY virtual debate last week — with one of the candidates threatening to not support the establishment’s choice in November.
Hasime “Samantha” Zherka — an insurance adjustor in Throggs Neck who is running for council after coming off a loss to former state Assemblymember Nathalia Fernandez for the state’s 34th Senatorial seat last November — said she wouldn’t back the Bronx GOP pick Kristy Marmorato if she wins next week’s primary during Wednesday night’s debate.
“I will absolutely support George Havranek (in the general election) if he turns out to be the victor of this primary, and I will absolutely not support the farce – her brother and herself,” the 54-year-old Zherka told viewers, taking opportunities often to call her opponent a “liar,” a “manipulator” and a “bully,” while accusing Marmorato of being a GOP nepotism pick.
Marmorato — a first-time candidate and Morris Park resident who works as an X-ray technician specializing in women’s health at Greenwich Hospital in Connecticut — touted her endorsement from the Bronx GOP and the five sitting Republicans on the City Council during the debate. Her integrity has been called into question by her challengers throughout the primary campaign — because Marmorato’s brother Michael Rendino is the chair of the Bronx GOP, and her husband Gino Marmorato is the Republican commissioner for the city Board of Elections.
The GOP-endorsed candidate, however, asserted that she’d vote for any of her Republican opponents over a Democrat.
“I am only running for the Republican and Conservative lines and I vow to support any candidate that wins the Republican Primary,” said Marmorato, 44. “I have said this from the beginning.”
Similarly, Havranek, 66, said he’d support the primary victor, but he reiterated that in order to bolster the Republican Party’s presence in the Bronx — which heavily favors registered Democratic voters — the GOP is going to have to run right of center.
“In CD-13 we have more cows than we have Republicans, right? Let’s be honest,” Havranek said. “And in order to win, you need to have an independent ticket.”
Havranek, a retired telecommunications specialist, has lived in the Spencer Estates neighborhood for about 60 years, since he was a young child. He’s a former Community Board 10 member and is currently active through the Spencer Estates Civic Association.
During a question about accusations of nepotism Wednesday night, Havranek also took a shot at Marmorato — saying that her brother’s attempt, and her attempt by extension, to protest one of his campaign events last week was a “poor display.”
Rendino led a Bronx GOP demonstration outside of Havranek’s fundraiser at Patricia’s Pizza of Tremont in Throggs Neck on June 13, accusing the candidate of having a campaign staffer fraudulently sign as a witness for a petition. Marmorato told the Bronx Times in a separate interview that she had no involvement in the protest spearheaded by her brother.
Bronx GOP protests Republican challenger George Havranek as CD-13 primary heats up
“They are still going at it,” Havranek said during the debate. “It’s been a very hard time and the bottom line is anyone that says there is not something going on behind the scenes is disingenuous.”
Marmorato secured the GOP’s endorsement by a committee vote of 36-1 earlier this year. Her brother, Rendino, told the Bronx Times that he abstained from the nominating vote.
Marmorato kept her composure in her rebuttal Wednesday night.
“They have no platform and that’s why they have to attack me and my brother, and it’s unfair to the people of our district,” Marmorato said. “Also … you’re diminishing my accomplishments as a woman and a mother. My focus has always been on putting people’s needs before the needs of myself.”
Sparring aside, the candidates — who are all also running for the Conservative ballot line in the general election — actually reached consensus on several of the contentious issues looming in CD-13 as well as their shared goal of unseating Democratic incumbent Marjorie Velázquez. The district encompasses the neighborhoods of Throggs Neck, Pelham Bay, Van Nest, City Island and Morris Park.
All three Republicans said they don’t fully support the upzoning that could come with the development of the Penn Access Project — a $3.18 billion feat that is set to bring four new Metro-North stations to Hunts Point, Parkchester, Morris Park and Co-op City.
They also all said they oppose the Just Home proposal, a plan to house former Rikers Island inmates with complex medical issues in a vacant building on the Jacobi Medical Center campus that Bronx Community Board 11 rejected in an advisory vote last October. Marmorato actually told the Bronx Times in a previous interview that the Just Home proposal was the impetus for her run for City Council. At the debate, Zherka proposed turning the vacant building into a pre-nursing trade school.
The three candidates also joined together in their criticism of Velázquez’s sudden change of heart on the Bruckner Boulevard rezoning proposal — claiming they would have maintained a “no” position had they been in office during the full council vote, which passed unanimously last fall. The controversial rezoning project is slated to bring 349 apartments, including 168 designated as affordable units, to Bruckner Boulevard in Throggs Neck — an area with low density growth management zoning.
Havranek in particular has been a longtime supporter of maintaining low-density neighborhoods in the Bronx, and has hailed himself as the one who outed the magnitude of the Bruckner rezoning to his Throggs Neck community. During the debate, he called himself the “genesis of the opposition” to the project.
Bruckner will likely be Velázquez’s largest obstacle toward reelection, as both the Republican and Democratic primary challengers have used her about-face to slam her campaign. The first-term incumbent hasn’t responded to requests to explain her change of heart, but at the CD-13 Democratic Debate Wednesday night said her final decision came down to multiple conversations with constituents — particularly seniors — who said they’d benefit from the rezoning.
Visit the PolitcsNY Youtube channel to watch the full CD-13 Republican Debate.
Early voting runs through June 25. Visit the Board of Elections website for the full early voting schedule.
The primary is scheduled for June 27. Use the NYC Board of Elections polling site locator to find your polling location at https://findmypollsite.vote.nyc.
– Emily Swanson, Aliya Schneider and Robbie Sequeira contributed to this report
This article was updated on June 21 at 5:05 p.m.
Reach Camille Botello at cbotello@schnepsmedia.com. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
