A woman in a bright blue blazer, matching eye shadow and a large TRUMP PENCE 2016 sticker on her lapel whirled around the community room of a Bensonhurst apartment complex as a man introduced as the “Frank Sinatra of Russia” provided the musical backdrop.
The scene was an election meet-and-greet with a decidedly Russian twist for Conservative Party candidate Malka Shahar. The Russian-born Shahar is challenging William Colton to represent the 47th Assembly District, which covers Bensonhurst, Gravesend, Bath Beach, Dyker Heights and Midwood.
Shahar, who emigrated eight years ago, joined the lady in blue on the makeshift dance floor to cheers and giggles from the roughly 30 attendees, most of them older women chatting in Russian.
Grabbing a microphone when singer Vadim Mulermann took a break, Shahar alternated between Russian and English as she asked attendees for their support in her uphill race against the 20-year incumbent.
Shahar’s candidacy is indicative of the growing presence of Russians in many southern Brooklyn neighborhoods. According to census figures, residents of Russian ancestry make up 11.3 percent of the population of Gravesend, compared to 2.8 percent of the population of the city as a whole. Alex Brook-Krasny, who represented Bay Ridge and Coney Island from 2006 to 2015, is the only Russian-born citizen ever elected to the state Assembly.
“She’s running with Trump!” announced Fran Vella-Marrone, vice-chair of the Brooklyn Conservative Party, as the audience broke out in applause.
The Conservative South
While much of the city, save for Staten Island, votes reliably on the Democrat line, neighborhoods with a high percentage of Russian immigrants have voted Republican in recent elections, according to the Institute of Modern Russia.
The Institute, a New York-based public policy think tank , credits Russians in southern Brooklyn with helping to elect Bob Turner in 2011 to the Congressional seat once held by Anthony Weiner. Turner, who isn’t Russian, became the first Republican in 88 years to represent New York’s 9th Congressional District. Gravesend is one of the New York City neighborhoods with the most donors to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, according to a study by real estate startup RentHop.
For many immigrants from the former Soviet Union, the Republican party embodies the free market they value in the United States. “A lot of Russians want Trump to win because he’s good for capitalism,” said Galina Spektor, a resident of Brighton Beach, who attended the event. “Us Russians like to make money.”
Shahar was equally enthusiastic about Trump, but for a different reason. “There are very dangerous signs of change in the U.S. right now,” she said. “I have experience with socialism. You can’t express yourself. The government controls everything.”
Shahar said she fled political persecution in Russia in 2008, and finally became a U.S. citizen last year.
Her stance was echoed by others in the room. Many there saw Trump as someone strong enough to stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Rather than viewing the friendly relationship between Trump and Putin as a negative, many considered it a smart political move.
Leonora Bulychova, 61, referring to Putin as “old Russia,” said that Hillary Clinton and President Obama look weak in front of him. She likes Trump, she said, because he is a “strong man” and a “fighter” who would use Putin for his assistance in fighting in Syria.
Shahar agreed. “He is evil,” she said of Putin. “But Trump is a smart man, he can fix it.”
The notion of Trump’s virility and strength even carried over to the video released in October, in which he bragged about sexual assault. “To me that says he has some sexual energy,” Shahar said.
