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By Max Jaeger
Brooklyn Daily
MARTIN GOLDEN VS. JAMES KEMMERER
The contest for state Senate District 22 has been heated from the outset. Six-term incumbent Martin Golden is defending his seat from upstart tech entrepreneur James Kemmerer. It will come down to voter turnout in the district, which meanders from Bay Ridge to Mill Basin and is home to a sizable number of Brooklyn’s Republicans.
Martin Golden
REPUBLICAN, state senator and retired police officer who has served Bay Ridge since 1998, first as a councilman. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is investigating the senator’s use of campaign funds at his family’s catering hall.
64, married, two children.
James Kemmerer
DEMOCRAT, tech entrepreneur who has made campaign finance reform his central issue. Kemmerer is a relative newcomer to the district and lived in Chicago before 2010. He is the executive director of the Bay Ridge Democrats.
41, married, one child.
The campaign
In their first debate, Golden accused Kemmerer, who moved to the district from Illinois in 2010, of being an opportunistic transplant. Kemmerer has proposed legislation called the “Golden Rule” that would bar politicians from spending campaign money at businesses employing a relative — a jab at Golden’s longstanding practice of holding events at his Family’s Bay Ridge Manor. Golden has characterized Kemmerer as a one-note candidate who doesn’t understand the district’s needs.
— Max Jaeger