LaLota re-elected to Congress: Palumbo re-elected to State Senate, Schiavoni wins Assembly seat

Here’s a look at some projected results from key area elections.

U.S. Congress District 1

In a closely watched race for the U.S. House of Representatives, according to the Suffolk County Board of Elections (BOE), incumbent Republican Rep. Nick LaLota defeated Democratic challenger and former CNN commentator John Avlon by 217,461 votes to 172,700.

“I’m fired up to go back to Washington and take another oath to fight for you,” Mr. LaLota said in his victory speech. “I also want to say thank you to the people who didn’t vote for me: You’re not garbage, you’re not un-American. I will continue to promise to serve you, regardless of your political belief, regardless of your support in me.”

Mr. LaLota is currently serving his first term in the U.S. House of Representatives for New York’s 1st Congressional District and will return to his seat for a second term. He was previously appointed and later twice elected to the Amityville Board of Trustees and is a former chief of staff for the Suffolk County Legislature and commissioner of the Suffolk County Board of Elections. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, he rose to the rank of lieutenant while serving in the military.

Mr. LaLota has said that his main priorities for a second term in Congress are to “secure the border, tackle inflation and always put Long Island first.”

New York State Senate

Incumbent Anthony Palumbo, according to unoffical results from the BOE, prevailed over Democratic challenger Sarah Anker by a vote of 84,776. o 73,953 in the race for District 1 New York State Senator. If the initial results hold, the Republican and Conservative incumbent candidate has secured his third term in office.

“This is a team win,” Mr. Palumbo said, acknowledging all individuals and groups who helped in his campaign during his speech. “This was many, many months in the making.”

Before his election to the State Senate in 2020, Mr. Palumbo had served in the State Assembly since 2013. A practicing lawyer, he previously worked as an assistant Suffolk County district attorney before starting a private practice on the North Fork and later joining the Legislature. This is his seventh run for political office.

Mr. Palumbo said affordable housing, public safety and protecting the environment are his key priorities for District 1. He supports the need for improved resiliency measures and the importance of local government control, particularly in matters of housing and community development. He previously noted his bipartisan efforts on several key issues and the importance of balancing the need for new development with open space preservation. He also stressed the need for stronger laws to combat the fentanyl epidemic, including supporting Chelsea’s Law which allows law enforcement officials to charge drug dealers linked to fatal overdoses with manslaughter.

New York State Assembly

In the race to replace long-serving New York State Assemblyman Fred Thiele to represent much of the East End in the lower house of the State Legislature, according to unofficial results from the BOE, Tommy John Schiavoni, a retired educator who currently serves as a member of the Southampton Town Board, defeated Republican contender Stephen Kiely by a vote of 33,284 to 26,196.

Prior to representing Southampton Town, Mr. Schiavoni served on the North Haven Village Zoning Board of Appeals and was elected to the North Haven Village Board in 2014. Mr. Schiavoni worked as a high school social studies teacher for 32 years. He is also a member of a multi-generation family plumbing and heating business in Sag Harbor. Additionally, he was a trustee on the Sag Harbor Board of Education for three years.

U.S. Senate

As expected, incumbent Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand is projected to easily defeat Republican challenger Mike Sapraicone, a retired New York City Police Department officer and first-time candidate for elected office. Ms. Gillibrand was appointed to the Senate by former governor David Patterson in 2009 after then-Sen. Hillary Clinton was appointed to serve as U.S. Secretary of State. Ms. Gillibrand won a special election to retain the seat in 2010 and was re-elected to full terms in 2012 and 2018. Prior to becoming a U.S. Senator, she worked as an attorney, law clerk, campaign staffer and special counsel to the secretary of Housing and Urban Development. She also represented New York’s 20th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives for one term. In the Senate, she is chair of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities and serves on the Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Agriculture and Aging committees.