Exclusive | Donald Trump Jr. makes key endorsement in nasty NYC Council primary battle
Brooklyn City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov has landed a potentially key endorsement from a big backer — Donald Trump Jr.— in her nasty Republican primary battle.Donald Jr.
praised Vernikov as a MAGA fighter in a new campaign video as she seeks re-election, slamming her opponent, Democrat-turned Republican Ari Kagan, as a “hack and fake Republican.”Vernikov and Kagan are battling to represent the heavily Jewish 48th council district in southern Brooklyn that covers Gravesend, Coney Island-Sea Gate, Brighton Beach, Midwood, Madison, Sheepshead Bay Manhattan Beach and Gerritsen Beach.“The constituents of Council District 48 are incredibly lucky to have Inna Vernikov — someone who, like our president, is a fighter who never backs down in the fight against the radical left’s attempt to destroy New York City.And they tried hard,” President Trump’s eldest son said in the ad.“Inna has fought, fought and fought, and we want to make sure a political establishment hack and fake Republican doesn’t succeed in his dangerous attempt to take away one of the strongest fighters we have in New York City,” Donald Jr.
said.“Let’s keep the MAGA movement strong and together, only vote Inna.Get out there, and make it happen, guys.”There is little question President Trump is a fan of Vernikov himself.
The councilwoman met the president in 2022 and later released a photo of the pair standing together, smiling, with Trump flashing a thumb’s up.Kagan, a former councilman, switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican in 2022, saying his party had swung too far to the left.He lost his seat in a race against Democratic Councilman Justin Brannan in the neighboring 47th District in 2023 after a redistricting.Vernikov, 40, describes herself as a “Ukrainian-born American Jew.”She was first elected in 2021, defeating the Democratic candidate, Steven Saperstein, in a landslide.On the council, she has accused CUNY and other college officials of failing...