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Frank Morano
New York politician (born 1984) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Frank Morano (born 1984/1985) is an American radio host and politician serving as a member of the New York City Council for the 51st district. He was elected in a 2025 special election to succeed Joe Borelli, who resigned to join the private sector. A Republican, his district includes the South Shore of Staten Island.[1][2]
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Early life and education
Morano was born on Staten Island to parents who moved there from Brooklyn.[3]
Career
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Radio broadcasting
One of Morano's first radio broadcast shows was "Moranovision", which he started hosting at 17 years old in 2001, focused on politics including interviews with local politicians and vigilante Bernhard Goetz.[2] Morano hosted The Answer on WNYM, where he was called “the people’s talk show host” and hosted a weekly show on Sunday mornings.[3]
In July 2020, Morano moved to WABC; he would host a local midday show on its semi-satellite WLIR-FM (primarily replacing Brian Kilmeade since it was already cleared by WRCN-FM), as well as the Sunday evening program The Frank Morano Program, and a weekday overnight program beginning in August. The overnight program later premiered in October 2020 as The Other Side of Midnight, replacing the syndicated Red Eye Radio on WABC's lineup.[4][5][6]
Political activism
Described as a longtime political operative within Staten Island politics, Morano has been affiliated with numerous conservative and populist minor political parties, including: as an executive committee member in the Independence Party, a committee member of the Reform Party of New York, and the Serve America Movement.[3] After being elected a committee member of the Reform Party in 2016, Morano drew ire from the party establishment for forcing extremely low-turnout primaries instead of endorsing other candidates through Wilson-Pakula laws and for holding a clandestine vote to instill Curtis Sliwa as the state's party chair as well as himself as the party secretary.[7] The former state chair sued to invalidate this takeover, alleging a violation of national guidelines and trademark infringement, but lost due to technical grounds.[8] The original decision from Albany-based Supreme Court Justice Christina Ryba dismissed this suit.[8]
He also worked in the office of Councilmember Joe Borelli.[1]
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New York City Council
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In 2025, Morano was elected to the New York City Council for the 51st district in a special election to replace Joe Borelli, who resigned to join the private sector. Morano amassed endorsements from Borelli, U.S. Representative Nicole Malliotakis, Councilmember David Carr, The New York Post, and the Staten Island Republican Party among others.[9] He was declared the winner on election night, defeating Democrat Cliff Hagen and Griffin Fossella, son of Borough President Vito Fossella, with 59% of the vote according to unofficial results.[1] He will serve the remainder of Borelli's term and run for re-election in November for a full term.[2] He was sworn in on May 13, 2025 by City Clerk Michael McSweeney.[10]
Morano's programs were pulled from WABC during the campaign due to equal-time rules, although The Other Side of Midnight continued to be heard in syndication. After the election, Morano officially departed the station, with Lionel succeeding him as host of The Other Side of Midnight.[11][12]
Electoral history
References
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