Democrats say they might block Republican Lester Chang from taking office next January, unless he can prove that he met residency requirements ahead of his shocking win earlier this month over longtime Assemblyman Peter Abbate, Jr. (D-Dyker Heights).
“The state Constitution requires that candidates reside in the county where they seek office for one year prior to the election. We are looking into the matter,” Michael Whyland, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, told The Post.
Chang – who City & State recently reported voted in Manhattan last year – has to prove that he moved to Kings County in time to run against Abbate or the Assembly could effectively void his election by a majority vote by the chamber.
That could create a path for Abbate to reclaim the seat he first won in 1986 if Gov. Kathy Hochul were to call a special election to fill the seat in the event Chang could not replace Abbate next January despite his 48.6% to 47.49% upset victory.
Chang, who did not respond to a request for comment Monday, has listed his mother’s Midwood address while claiming that he is a bonafide Brooklynite rather than a Manhattan-based interloper.
“The onus is on Lester to show he lives here,” a longtime Abbate ally and Democratic operative said. “If he can, that is fine – but he needs more than a note from his mother.”
Abbate said in an interview that he has discussed the matter with Assembly leaders and their attorneys and expects them to take action if the evidence shows Chang failed to move to the district a year ahead of the election as required.
The deposed Brooklyn Democrat was uncommitted to whether he’d run for his current seat – but Democratic sources said they would be stunned if he didn’t.
“I am content with the results but if [Chang] should not be able to serve in the state Assembly, then I would have to make a decision if I would run or if someone else should run instead,” he told The Post.
Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn (D-Flatbush), who also chairs the Brooklyn Democratic Party, said she would back Abbate “100%” if he did run again to represent the newly-drawn Assembly District 49 covering parts of Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Bensonhurst.
“The Brooklyn Democratic Party is reviewing all the relevant facts in this matter to determine what the next appropriate steps that ensure that the rule of law is upheld,” Bichotte Hermelyn said of Chang possible falling short of meeting such requirements.
Election rules require legislative candidates to live in the same county as their districts in redistricting years like 2022 when new lines took hold as part of the decennial map-making process.
The state Senate and Assembly have broad discretion to decide who can serve within their ranks and Chang would have little legal recourse if he were booted for violating the residency requirements, according to election law expert Sarah Steiner.
“They would have to follow the rules set forth in the Constitution and so forth. They couldn’t just decide: ‘Oh, we don’t like you,'” she said.
Michael Fraser, a spokesman for Assembly GOP Minority Leader William Barclay (R-Fulton), told The Post that Democrats should have challenged Chang’s eligibility months ago rather than waiting until after the election.
“The people of Brooklyn elected Lester Chang to represent them in Albany,” Fraser added. “Any attempts to erase those results would represent a new low.”
Democrats, who successfully defended their Assembly supermajority despite the Abbate loss, would be “committing political suicide” with key groups like Asian American voters if they prevented their preferred candidate from taking office, according to Brooklyn Republican leader Ted Ghorra.
“They don’t have a legal leg to stand on,” Ghorra said about Democrats questioning the residency of Chang, who Ghorra said lives with his mother just outside the district lines.
“The Democrats are going to challenge the residency of a decorated 24-year Navy vet who is taking care of his 95-year-old mom?” Ghorra added. “There is no there, there.”
