NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Staten Island City Council member Joe Borelli will lead an expanded group of Republicans as the newly elected minority leader for the legislative body.
Borelli, who represents Staten Island’s south shore, will replace outgoing Council member Steve Matteo, also of Staten Island.
“I’m excited to get to work with my new colleagues in the Republican Delegation, our next speaker, and the Adams administration to tackle these issues and to provide an alternative perspective on how to move our great city forward,” he added,” Borelli told the Staten Island Advance.
The Trump-supporting Council member is one of five GOP members in the 51-person body. When the new class of Council members are sworn in on Jan. 1, he will be accompanied by newly elected Republicans David Carr, also of Staten Staten Island; Joanne Ariola and Vicki Palladino, of Queens; and Inna Vernikov, of Brooklyn.
The Council will also feature several new candidates on the opposite end of the political spectrum. Democratic Socialists Tiffany Cabán, Alexa Avilés and Shahanna Hanif each won their elections in Brooklyn and Queens.
Borelli told the Post he sees the Council as a “three-party system:” a centrist Democratic majority flanked by groups of leftists and conservatives.
"Our job is to be the loyal opposition, but also to be supportive when we can work together to push back on the defund the police movement and other DSA priorities,” Borelli said, using the acronym for the Democratic Socialists of America.
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