Tensions ratcheted up to a new high within the City Council‘s Republican Caucus on Tuesday. Half of the six-member conference held a Jan. 28 afternoon meeting where those present elected Council Member David Carr (Staten Island) as their new minority leader.

The Republican members of the Big Apple’s city council voted in a new minority leader, David Carr, Tuesday — with half of the party boycotting and threatening legal action.

The City Council’s small Republican caucus is facing an internal crisis after half of its members contested the validity of an election for a new minority leader that took place Tuesday and

Republicans in the New York City Council are bracing for a fight to fill the power vacuum left by Minority Leader Joe Borelli’s impending departure, and Councilmembers Joann Ariola of Queens and David Carr of Staten Island are at the center of it.