East End Elections Decided: A Good Night for Incumbents
Election day on the East End of Long Island was a breeze for incumbents in most cases, and two elected officials won different positions.
Suffolk County Legislator Jay Schneiderman, a member of the Independence Party who ran with the backing of the Democrats, was elected the supervisor of Southampton Town. Schneiderman took 56% of the vote to Republican Richard Yastrzemski’s 44%. Schneiderman will assume the supervisor position at the end of Anna Throne-Holst’s term. Rather than seeking a fourth two-year term as supervisor, Throne-Holst decided to run for Congress as a Democrat against incumbent Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin in 2016.
In the race to be the next Southampton Town Justice—following Edward Burke Sr.—Gary J. Weber defeated Adam Grossman. Weber took 58% of the vote.
Four candidates ran for two Southampton Town Council seats. Incumbent Republican Christine Scalera was the top vote getter, with 27.4%. On the Democratic line, John Bouvier earned a seat on the town board with 25.2% of the vote. Bouvier will replace Democrat Bridget Fleming. Democrat Julie Lofstad had 24.6% and Republican Damon Hagan has 22.8%
Instead of seeking re-election to the Southampton Town Board, Fleming sought—and won—a seat on the Suffolk County Legislature. She defeated Republican Amos Goodman in the race to fill the position being vacated by Schneiderman. Fleming won 60%–40% and will represent the South Fork.
Incumbent Democrat Larry Cantwell has been reelected as supervisor of East Hampton Town. He had 68% of the vote to Republican challenger Thomas Knobel’s 32%.
In the race for two East Hampton Town Council seats, incumbent Democrats Sylvia Overby and Peter Van Scoyoc held on. Van Scoyoc was the top vote-getter, with 30.3%, followed by Overby with 28.2%. The Republican challengers, Lisa Mulhern-Larsen and Margaret Turner, took 21.0% and 20.4 % of the vote, respectively.
On the North Fork, Democrat Al Krupski Jr. kept his seat in the county legislature. The incumbent won 75%–25%, besting challenger Remy Bell, a Republican.
East End, incumbent Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter earned re-election despite having two major-party challengers. Walter had lost the Republican nomination for supervisor to Councilwoman Jodi Giglio. Giglio also grabbed the Independence and Reform nominations. The Democrats put forward Anthony Coates as their candidate, and he also received the Working Families and Women’s Equality ballot lines. Walter was on just one line, Conservative, and managed to win with 41%. Giglio has 35% and Coates had 24%.
In the Riverhead Town Council race, Republican Timothy Hubbard was far ahead was 31.6% and will replace Giglio. Fellow Republican James Wooten, an incumbent, kept his seat with 23.5%. Democratic challengers Laura Jens-Smith and Neil Krupnick took 19.4% and 16.9%, respectively. Conservative challenger Robert Peeker has 8.5%.
Lori M. Hulse, the Southold assistant town attorney, will be the next Riverhead town justice, by a more-than-comfortable margin. Hulse, the Republican, Conservative and Independence nominee, earned 61% of the vote. Jeanmarie Costello, the Democratic, Green, Working Families and Women’s Equality nominee, had 35%. Reform Party nominee Robert Kozakiewicz had 4%.
On Shelter Island, incumbent Town Supervisor James Dougherty, a Democrat, was re-elected with 61% to Republican challenger Arthur Williams’s 39%.
Paul Shepherd, a Republican, earned another term as town councilman with 40.3% of the vote. James Collegian, a Democrat, will join the board after receiving 38.1%. The third-place finished on the three-way race for two seats was Republican Emory Breiner, with 20.0%