By: Hellen Zaboulani
Last year, Republican Assemblyman Michael Novakhov won an upset victory in Brooklyn beating longtime Democratic incumbent Steven Cymbrowitz.
As reported by the NY Post, Novakhov himself may be a leftie at heart. Now a representative in State Assembly for District 45 (including Gravesend and parts of Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach), Novakhov was a radio entrepreneur, who worked as the host of the Russian-language radio station FreedomFM. He was born under Communist rule in the Soviet Union, and many of his current constituents had also moved to the same Brooklyn neighborhoods as he now serves, to flee communist rule. Novakhov had spent years as a registered Democrat, and just first switched to a Republican in August 2020 before his bid for office, as per city Board of Elections data.
Moreover, Novakhov contributed on several occasions over the years to Democratic campaigns, as per records from the Federal Election Commission. In 2016, he had donated $170 to socialist Bernie Sanders. The records show he never made donations to Republican candidates. His opinions are also not always aligned with conservatives. One of his key campaign issues, which is posted on his website, is a leftie quirk known as “social equity”. He has criticized Mayor Eric Adams’ plans to remove violent vagrants from NYC subways, arguing that the plan doesn’t prescribe “mental health professionals.”
In his campaign against Cymbrowitz, he was even back by the Brooklyn Conservative Party. Still, he also got endorsed by top GOP figures in the state, including gubernatorial nominee Lee Zeldin, Staten Island Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, and Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay.
His spokesperson responded to the Post saying: “Michael was born under Communist rule in Soviet Russia and was able to escape to the United States to build a better life. As an immigrant-American he, like many others in his district, registered as a Democrat,” said Novakhov’s spokeswoman. “He made a number of small dollar donations to the Bernie Sanders campaign, subscribing, with the intention of seeing if the messaging of the campaign to donors differed from that of someone who solely subscribed to a newsletter.” “In 2020, after years of frustration with the Democrat party and a continuing decline in representation of his district and the city, Michael proudly re-registered as a Republican,” the rep added.
There are more instances, however, which show continued alliance with Democrats. For his chief of staff, Novakhov hired Gregory Kirsopp—who also has history as a Democratic donor, who had thrown a fundraiser for Democratic Mayor Adams, and who had previously worked for former Democratic City Council members Helen Rosenthal and Mark Levine. Moreover, Novakhov has unabashedly rejoiced over the triumph of Democratic governor Kathy Hochul. Just this week, he posted on Instagram noting that he was overjoyed to attend the “inauguration of New York’s first female governor”. “Proud to have witnessed Her-story being made!!!,” he wrote. As per the Post, Novahkov has also frequently liked and retweeted posts from Democrats including comptroller Brad Lander and Manhattan’s soft-on-crime District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Brooklyn party leaders commented for the Post’s story saying they are aware of Novakhov’s past, but feel the need to broaden their scope to gain support. “When we interviewed him he was a Republican and he was a Republican for nearly two years at that juncture and he changed … because people are fed up with the state of the city and the state of the state,” said Brooklyn GOP leader Ted Ghorra.
