NEW YORK, NY November 02, 2009 —The GOP leader in the New York City Council is hoping his caucus will double in size in January, thanks to three close races in Queens. WNYC's Richard Yeh reports.

REPORTER: Republican Peter Koo, a pharmacist and longtime community board member, is in a tight race with Democrat Yen Chou for the Flushing City Council seat being vacated by John Liu. At a rally Sunday with more than 500 Koo supporters, the Council's minority leader, James Oddo, says voters care about the individual candidate, not party labels.

ODDO: I think in part because they're looking at the mess in Albany, and they're saying the Democrats are a mess in Albany, the Republicans are a mess, and that they're saying, "all we want are good elected officials."

REPORTER: Oddo is also pushing Daniel Halloran who is running against Democrat Kevin Kim in Bayside for the seat being vacated by Tony Avella. And Republican Tom Ognibene is fighting to win back his old council seat in Central Queens. He's trying to beat Elizabeth Crowley, who won office only a year ago in a special election.

For WNYC, I'm Richard Yeh.