BAY RIDGE — Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis packed the room at Cebu Bar & Bistro in Bay Ridge on Sunday, Feb. 23 with community leaders offering support for her congressional run. Malliotakis, the lone Republican lawmaker in Brooklyn, is challenging incumbent U.S. Rep. Max Rose for New York’s 11th Congressional district seat.
Celeste Scarpaci-Hutra and Anthony Pennachio Sr. hosted the Sunday brunch rally, with Brooklyn Conservative Party Chair Fran Vella-Marrone welcoming guests to the gathering.
“We’re here today for a fantastic candidate,” said Vella-Marrone. “She’s someone who is going to take the bull by the horns, run with it and win this election. She has a great record to stand on, and we’re going to be successful in November.”
Brooklyn Conservative Party Chair Fran Vella-Marone, Celeste Scarpaci-Hutra, Anthony Pennachio Sr. and Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis.
Also attending the event was Staten Island Conservative Party Chair David Mario Cursio; Brooklyn GOP Executive Director Stephen Maresca; Brooklyn Conservative Party Vice Chair David Ryan; Vito Bruno, president of the Edmund G. Seergy Republican Club and recently nominated Republican Party Senate candidate; and community leaders Robert Capano, George Prezioso, Patrick Gilbride, Patrick Condren, Brian Chin and Walter Ochoa.
“It’s been an amazing run so far and we’re just getting started,” said Malliotakis. “Even though we’ve been out in the community for the past year making our case as to why we need to take back this seat.”
Rose took office in January 2019 after defeating Republican Congressmember Dan Donovan.
“Last week, we got a tremendous boost when President Donald Trump endorsed me,” said Malliotakis. “And this week, we got another boost when we found out that the National Republican Campaign Committee elevated this race and made me a contender, one of only 35 people in the country. That means that they know that this is a top-five race and they know that this is a winnable race and they know that Max Rose is going to be a one-term congressman.”
Malliotakis touted her record in the state Assembly. “Whether it was restoring the B37 Third Avenue bus, improving Access-A-Ride for our seniors, helping seniors who got dropped from the program get reinstated, insuring that when the governor tried to cut our funding for senior centers and veterans’ mental health programs, I was there on the forefront and we won those battles,” said Malliotakis.
Dr. Amer Rafiaa and his wife Chaza with Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis.
“When they tried to dismantle our gifted and talented schools and when they said they weren’t going to fund our community based Pre-K, we fought back and we won every single one of those battles,” added Malliotakis.
Prezioso said he was delighted to support Malliotakis. “I have known Nicole since she was working for Gov. Pataki in community relations,” Prezioso told this paper.
“Over the past 10 years, Nicole has represented our district as the minority member of the Assembly, fighting for us for many of those years against the agenda of Majority Leader Sheldon Silver and the anti-business special interest policies that the Democrats and Silver have promoted which have driven jobs and people out of New York State,” he went on. “She has fought for many years for school choice and assisting working families. I am confident that Nicole will serve our commonsense interest on a federal level, being our representative in Congress.”
Cebu is located at 8801 Third Ave.
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