In 2020, according to data from the New York State Board of Elections, nearly three-quarters of voters in Brooklyn cast their ballots for the Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden, who received 514,133 votes. Read more about the history of recent elections at brooklyn-yes.com.
The Queens Native Loses Ground
The incumbent Republican and Queens native, Donald Trump, captured only 25 percent of the ballots in Kings County, receiving 174,731 in-person votes. These results reflect the votes cast on Election Day and during the nine-day early voting period, which saw higher turnout from Brooklynites than any other borough.
Compared to the 2016 presidential election in Brooklyn, Democrats performed worse in 2020 during in-person voting, while Republicans gained ground. Eight years ago, Trump won only 18 percent of the vote—compared to over 25 percent this year—while then-candidate Hillary Clinton claimed 80 percent, compared to Biden’s 74 percent in 2020.
The Assembly Districts with the highest percentage of Biden votes were in the East New York-Brownsville-Canarsie area, where 95.2 percent of voters chose Biden. For Clinton in 2016, her strongest support came from the Clinton Hill-Bedford-Stuyvesant-Prospect Heights area, where she won 94.5 percent. However, Trump won four Assembly Districts in southern Brooklyn that cover Coney Island, Brighton Beach, Bay Ridge, Gravesend, Midwood, Borough Park, and parts of Sheepshead Bay, a trend similar to 2016.
Currently, these four districts are represented in the state legislature by Democrats. The only seat in Brooklyn that was represented by a Republican was the 64th Assembly District of Nicole Malliotakis. That district saw a split—Biden was preferred by more voters in the Bay Ridge portion, while Trump received the majority of votes on the Staten Island side.
Mail-In Ballots
But these were not the complete results, as over 100,000 mail-in ballots had not yet been counted at the time. Officials continued to process ballots postmarked on or before Election Day until November 9, when the count began. These ballots were expected to shift the results in some of the Trump-dominated districts in southern Brooklyn. Since registered Democrats requested and returned far more mail-in ballots in this part of Brooklyn than their Republican counterparts, the mail-in vote was expected to increase Biden’s lead.
According to calculations by the Brooklyn Paper based on data by Assembly District, the Board of Elections sent out approximately 360,000 absentee ballots to voters in the borough.
The borough’s in-person turnout in 2016 was over 800,000, compared to 698,000 in 2020. However, the 2020 contest ultimately surpassed the last presidential election’s total turnout after all absentee ballots were counted.
Staten Island for Trump
At the borough level, Biden won every borough except Staten Island, where turnout increased by about 36,000 votes, or roughly 20%. Interestingly, Trump received about 15,000 fewer votes on Staten Island than in 2016, indicating Biden’s relative popularity on the island compared to Clinton and Trump’s stronger 2016 performance in other boroughs. Nevertheless, the margin was large: Trump won 61.6% of the Staten Island vote to Biden’s 37.6%.
In the 11th Congressional District, which covers Staten Island and parts of southern Brooklyn, Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis defeated incumbent Congressman Max Rose, flipping the city’s only swing district back to the Republicans. The final count was 155,586 votes for Malliotakis and 137,165 for Rose, or 53.15% to 46.85%. Rose outperformed Biden in the district and on Staten Island, likely indicating a significant number of Trump-Rose ticket-splitters.
In the state legislature, Democratic State Senator Andrew Gounardes, who represents a competitive district in southern Brooklyn, won re-election in a relatively close race against Republican Vito Bruno by fewer than 4,000 votes. Gounardes received 51.8% of the total vote, with over 51,000 votes, increasing his margin from his narrow 2018 victory over then-Senator Martin Golden.
Overall turnout in Brooklyn increased by nearly 110,000 votes, or about 14%. In the Queens Borough President election, Council Member Donovan Richards, the Democratic candidate, defeated Republican Joann Ariola, winning 69.8% of the vote—519,000 to 206,000.
Regarding other NYC boroughs: in Queens, turnout rose by 103,000, or about 15% compared to 2016. In the Bronx, where turnout increased by about 30,000 votes (7%) from 2016 to 2020, Council Member Ritchie Torres, who won a crowded Democratic primary in June, defeated Republican candidate Patrick Delices with 88.7% of the vote. The totals in that race were 170,000 for Torres and 21,000 for Delices.