Quick Facts
Biography
John Brooks is the New York State Senator for the 8th District of the New York Senate. A Democrat, his district includes portions of Amityville, Freeport, Lindenhurst and Massapequa Park as well as the unincorporated villages of Baldwin, Baldwin Harbor, Bellmore, Copiague, East Farmingdale, East Massapequa, Massapequa, Merrick, North Amityville, North Bellmore, North Lindenhurst, North Merrick, Roosevelt, Seaford, South Farmingdale, Wantagh, West Babylon, Wheatley Heights and Wyandanch on Long Island. Brooks, despite being a member of the Democratic caucus, was a registered Republican until after the 2017 local elections.
Life and career
Brooks was born and raised on Long Island, and served for more than forty-five years with the Seaford, New York Fire Department. Brooks subsequently served as a member of the Seaford Board of Education. An insurance broker, Brooks also worked for Geico and United States Capital Insurance, and later served as Nassau County's Director of Risk Management. A graduate of the New York Institute of Technology and SUNY Farmingdale, Brooks also served in the armed services as with the Rainbow Division of the NYARNG as a medic.
Brooks was previously the Insurance & Risk Manager for the Town of Brookhaven. While there it was his responsibility to select the insurance carrier for employees. He selected Triad Group for the town, who later hired him to serve as their risk manager. This conflict of interest, as well as enriching a company for his own benefit, led to Brooks' termination by the Town of Brookhaven. Brooks twice ran for the New York Assembly, losing in 2010 and 2012 to David McDonough by margins of more than 20%.
New York State Senate
In 2016, Brooks chose to run for the 8th Senate District seat held by Michael Venditto. Despite being a registered Republican, Brooks chose to accept the Democratic line. He was unopposed in the primary. In October after the arrest of Venditto's father, Supervisor John Venditto, on corruption charges, along with Ed Managano, Brooks finally decided to campaign for the seat. The Democratic Senate Campaign Committee and Brooks viewed Venditto as a free target despite having nothing to do with the scandal.
On election night, former Senator Michael Venditto was thought to have won by more than 2,000 votes, but when additional ballots were counted, Brooks pulled into the lead by less than 100 votes. Ballots were subsequently recounted. In the end, Brooks won by only 257 votes out of over 168,000 cast to take the seat.