Jeffries Wins Congressional Seat; Election Promises a New Era in Brooklyn Politics

As expected, Hakeem Jeffries handily won election to the 8th Congressional District on Tuesday.

"On Jan. 3 ... I'll be able to go down to the floor and utter these words: 'Brooklyn is in the House," Jeffries said to a cheering crowd of supporters and family members.

For Jeffries, a three-term Assemblyman, it was an often bumpy road to victory — at least, at the beginning.

Announcing his bid on a bitter cold January afternoon, Jeffries faced an entrenched incumbent in Rep. Edolphus "Ed" Towns, a three-decade veteran of the U.S. House. 

However, after a series of fits and starts, Towns decided to end his reelection campaign before it really began in April.

That left Councilman Charles Barron as Jeffries' main obstacle to the Democratic nomination in the newly created 8th Congressional District stretching from Central Brooklyn to South Queens.

The primary fight between Barron, an outspoken former Black Panther, and Jeffries, a politician more in the post-racial mold of President Barack Obama, in many ways resembled a fight between an old and newer style of Brooklyn politics.

In the end, Jeffries triumphed in a June federal primary marked by historically low voter turnout.

For close to five months, the race has progressed to the general election with little in the way of momentum for Jeffries' Green Party rival, Colin Beavan, or for Republican Alan Bellone.

So it came as no suprise that it was all Jeffries' show Tuesday night as he thanked campaign staff, volunteers and supporters at club Blink on Atlantic Avenue.

"We're going to march for a more perfect union," he said. "We are not going backward."