Could the Barron political dynasty be overthrown?
Charles Barron is vying to win his wife Inez Barron’s New York City Council District 42 seat, which she is leaving this year due to term limits. The majority-Black district encompases East New York and its subsections such as Spring Creek and Starrett City. Charles Barron previously won the same seat in 2001. His wife won the Assembly seat in 2008 and they swapped seats when Charles was term-limited out of the City Council in 2013, with Inez running successfully to replace him and Charles then replacing her in the Assembly.
But some have grown tired of the Barrons’ seat swapping, particularly local politicos who say the district is in need of new leadership, pointing to the neighborhood’s high rates of poverty and unemployment, and a recent upward trend in shootings as some of the most pressing issues in the district. Others remember the iconoclastic, radical couple known for generating their share of controversy, for their active role in helping the community.