Simcha Felder Wins Brooklyn City Council Special Election in Landslide, Defeating MAGA-Aligned Opponent Heshy Tischler

Edited by: TJVNews.com

In a decisive return to New York City politics, State Senator Simcha Felder has clinched victory in the special election to fill the vacant City Council seat formerly held by Kalman Yeger, securing 81.7% of the vote with nearly all scanners (98%) reporting by 9:30 p.m. on election night. As was reported on Tuesday at the cityandstateny.com web site, the result sends Felder back to the same council seat he held more than a decade ago and signals a clear repudiation of MAGA-style politics in one of Brooklyn’s most conservative, yet uniquely local, political districts.

While turnout was notably low—just under 700 early voters and approximately 5,500 total votes tallied by the end of election night—the margin of victory was impossible to ignore. The report at cityandstateny.com noted that Felder’s commanding lead over Republican challenger Harold “Heshy” Tischler, a controversial Trump supporter and self-described community activist, demonstrated that even in a deeply Orthodox Jewish enclave such as Borough Park, national MAGA messaging had limited appeal.

The special election was nonpartisan, allowing candidates to run on custom ballot lines. Felder chose the eponymous “Simcha” line, emphasizing his personal brand and local connections. The report at cityandstateny.com said that Tischler, meanwhile, ran on a more provocative “Team Trump” line, leaning into right-wing populism and his identity as a vocal critic of COVID-19 restrictions—actions that included participation in anti-lockdown riots during the pandemic.

As the report on cityandstateny.com indicated, while the low turnout makes it difficult to extract sweeping conclusions about political trends in New York City, the outcome still offers a cautionary tale about the limits of far-right, nationally focused campaigning in local races—especially within tightly knit communities that prioritize practical governance over performative rhetoric.

Felder is no stranger to the district or to City Hall. A conservative Democrat by affiliation but a pragmatist by practice, he previously served two terms on the City Council representing the same neighborhoods he now returns to serve, the cityandstateny.com report explained. Since 2013, he has served in the New York State Senate, where he developed a reputation as a political wildcard—most notably for caucusing with Republicans during the 2010s, a move that helped preserve a slim GOP majority in Albany during a time of tight partisan margins.

Though this maneuver cost him favor among many Democratic colleagues, Felder eventually returned to the party fold after Democrats secured full control of the state Senate in 2019. Since then, he has largely aligned with his Democratic colleagues, albeit from a conservative policy position rooted in the values and priorities of his Orthodox Jewish constituents.

His win in this week’s special election marks a full-circle moment in a career defined by both deep local ties and a knack for political survival, as was reported by cittyandstateny.com.

Tischler’s campaign was always going to be a long shot, but the margin of defeat was nevertheless stark. As the report on cityandstateny.com explained, Tischler’s alignment with Donald Trump, participation in COVID-19-era civil unrest, and incendiary public persona failed to galvanize the Borough Park electorate in any significant way.

In a district where politics are often shaped more by religious affiliation, community service, and trust than by national party labels, Tischler’s overt MAGA branding appeared to alienate more voters than it inspired. The report on cityandstateny.com observed that while the Orthodox community has shown pockets of support for Republican candidates at the national level, Felder’s win suggests that personal credibility and local experience still trump ideological showmanship in the context of New York’s municipal politics.

With his return to the City Council now confirmed, Felder is poised to bring his deep understanding of city governance and state-level politics back to the legislative body at a time when New York is grappling with complex challenges: housing affordability, public safety, school funding, and the rising tensions over issues like antisemitism and religious freedom.

Felder’s ability to work across the aisle—even if it has made him controversial within his own party—could once again make him a critical player in shaping moderate and consensus-based policy approaches within a council often fractured along ideological lines.

Though the race does not serve as a definitive bellwether for citywide or state elections—largely due to its low turnout and district-specific dynamics—it nonetheless reflects a key insight, as reported by cityandstateny.com: the MAGA brand remains radioactive in much of New York City, even in areas that might be considered religiously or socially conservative.

At a time when some Republicans are seeking to make inroads in urban areas by promoting Trump-aligned candidates, Felder’s blowout victory sends a clear warning: national polarization does not always translate into local success, especially when voters are more concerned with neighborhood issues than cable news narratives.

Simcha Felder’s return to the New York City Council is a story of political resilience, local trust, and the enduring power of pragmatism over ideology. As the report at cityandstateny.com aptly noted, this special election revealed not just who won, but what kind of politics still resonate in the city’s tightly woven communities: service over slogans, and experience over extremism.

The voters of Borough Park have spoken—and what they chose was not a culture war, but a councilmember who knows the ropes and gets things done