Democrat Justin Brannan kicked off NYC Council's Italian Caucus for not 'pledging fealty' to Christopher Columbus

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Brooklyn Democrat Justin Brannan found out via the press on Saturday that he was kicked off the New York City Council’s Italian Caucus over his stance on Columbus Day and his unwillingness to “pledge fealty” to Christopher Columbus.

“The other members of the Republican Italian Caucus never actually told me that I was booted from the caucus, but I learned about it today in the New York Post,” Brannan told 1010 WINS.

Republican Staten Island Councilmember David Carr explained to the Post in an article published on Saturday afternoon that the caucus “wanted to be really adamant about the retention of Columbus Day with no room for negotiations.”

Carr did not respond Saturday to 1010 WINS’ request for comment.

Brannan, who is open to Columbus Day being renamed Italian American Heritage Day, told 1010 WINS that the caucus’ recently adjusted bylaws changed as part of an “ideological purity test” in which caucus members were required to “pledge [their] undying loyalty” to Columbus.

“They changed their bylaws. They did it last year, so the only way you could be on the Italian caucus—it had nothing to do with your heritage—it had to do with you pledging fealty to Christopher Columbus,” Brannan said.

Brannan, the council’s finance committee chair and a frontrunner in next year’s city comptroller race, said that he is open to Indigenous people having their own, separate holiday as to not pit Italian Americans against Native people.

But Brannan still thinks Columbus Day holds negative connotations for some, a stance held by many Indigenous advocates in a growing national movement to change the holiday.

“The vast majority of Italian Americans use this holiday to celebrate the contributions of Italians, not to venerate any one person and certainly not to venerate violence towards Indigenous peoples,” Brannan told 1010 WINS.

The other caucus members—who all have Italian ancestry—include Joann Ariola and Vickie Paladino of Queens; Kristy Marmorato of the Bronx; Joe Borelli of Staten Island; and Robert Holden of Queens, the only other Democrat on the caucus.

In a post on X Saturday, Brannan specifically called out 73-year-old Holden for his removal.

“Oh my! Sardinian erasure at the hands of Bob Holden octogenarian arbiter of all things Italian. Va fa Napoli!!” he wrote.

He followed up the post with a picture of gelato, captioned “Enjoying some ‘trendy flavors of wokeism.’”