Kate Cucco hopes to make her mark in the 46th A.D.

On Tuesday, September 13, Democrats will go to the polls in the 46th Assembly District to vote in the primary. Running are incumbent Assemblymember Pamela Harris and challenger Kate Cucco.

The 46th A.D. includes portions of Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights, and portions of Coney Island, Seagate and Brighton Beach, with the two disparate sections of the district connected by the Belt Parkway.

Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Click here to check the location of your polling place.

Kate Cucco, the former chief of staff to Assemblymember Alec Brook-Krasny, is striving again to win her former boss’s seat in the 46th Assembly District.

To do so, she is running in the Democratic primary, challenging the incumbent Assemblymember, Pamela Harris, who won the post in a special election in November, 2015, after Brook-Krasny resigned to take a job in the private sector in July, 2015.

“The main reason I’m running is for the community,” Cucco said. “I love service.” In her nine years working for the Assembly, she added, “I fell in love with the community and the people, and I want to do right by them.”

Cucco also noted that she lives in Bay Ridge. “We haven’t had an elected official who’s lived in the community in decades,” she remarked.

Cucco told this paper that her experience working for the Assembly for nine years has primed her for the post, between dealing with constituent service on the ground in the district, and working in the state capitol on legislation, building relationships.

“I think the experience I have is a really strong foundation,” she said. “I think nine years working for the former assemblymember prepared me for the job, as well as my experience in Albany. The relationships I have would be very helpful in navigating the New York State political system and getting things done.”

Among the issues that Cucco said she wants to take on are “ethics reform and election reform.

“For a progressive state, we’re really behind the curve in terms of election law,” she opined. “It shouldn’t be this difficult to register to vote, and I think if you want to change parties, you shouldn’t have to know a year prior to the election.”

Among the reforms she supports, Cucco said, is same day registration.

Other issues that Cucco is concerned about include “transportation across the board in the district.” With the R train, she said, “We need express service. I ride the train every day and I know how long you wait at 59th Street.” She also said she wanted to see continued expansion of express bus service beyond the recent restitution of the X28 weekend service. Any additional bus service, she said, “Helps, and is going to alleviate overcrowding. There are still lines that need work.”

Cucco also said she is concerned about the power grid in Dyker Heights. Over the weekend, with the bad weather, the power went out, she recalled. “I think we need to look more deeply into that, to see what we can do to rectify it.”

Cucco also cited “quality of life issues” ranging from “maintaining affordable housing” to coping with illegal conversions to parking problems as issues she would like to tackle.

“People are looking for someone with experience, also someone who is going to fight for them,” she concluded.

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