Blue Tide: Dems Flip Seats in Hamptons, North Fork, with Razor-Thin Riverhead Supervisor Race Lead

Democratic challengers ousted six Republican incumbents on Election Day in the Hamptons and on the North Fork, where the Riverhead Town supervisor’s race is so close it appears to be heading for a recount.

The upsets included elections for town government seats as well as one of two East End seats on the Suffolk County Legislature — a result that strips local Republicans of their current 12-6 supermajority, which means the GOP will need Democratic support to get some bills passed.

“I am proud of our victory,” said Southold Town Council member Greg Doroski, who declared victory over first-term Suffolk County Legislator Catherine Stark (R-Riverhead) in the first district representing the towns of Southold and Riverhead. “It not only affirms the hard work we put into this campaign and my record on the Southold Town Board; it rejects the cliched attacks the Suffolk GOP ran against me that disrespected the intelligence of our community.

Stark has not conceded and Suffolk County Republican Committee Chair Michael Torres called the race “too close to call” on election night, but Doroski had a nearly 1,000-vote lead with 52% of the vote over Stark’s 47%, according to unofficial early vote tallies that the Suffolk County Board of Elections released.

“The numbers speak for themselves,” Doroski said. “We are not in the range that would warrant a recount. I have spoken with legislators from both sides of the aisle and look forward to working together.”

Republicans have had a supermajority majority in the county legislature since 2023, after the GOP flipped the 18-member panel from Democratic control for the first time in 16 years in 2021.

“A Republican majority will continue in the Suffolk County Legislature,” Torres told cheering party faithful at Stereo Garden in Patchogue as the results rolled in on Nov. 4.

On the South Fork, first-term Suffolk Legislator Ann Welker (D-Southampton) held onto her seat, defeating Republican challenger Raheem Soto. Welker told Dan’s Papers she was looking forward to working with Doroski in the legislature.

“Catherine Stark and I worked well together, but you couldn’t always be at 100%,” Welker said. “I’m looking forward to working with Greg. We will work building on working waterfront. We need to figure out seaweed processing. We need to figure out where we’re going to do with our seafood processing too. It can’t keep going to the Bronx. We need to figure out our solid waste. We have a long list of things to do.”

Babylon Town Supervisor and Suffolk County Democratic Committee Chair Rich Schaeffer, who won re-election to his own seat, partially credited Doroski’s victory to a national trend of Democratic voters turning out in higher numbers in response to the Republican administration of President Donald Trump.

“What I think happened here is people saw some of the things that were going on nationally out of the Republican Party, didn’t like what they saw, and wanted to express themselves tonight,” Schaeffer said.

TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON

Democratic challenger Tom Neely, a member of the town planning board, unseated Republican Southampton Town Councilmember Rick Martel, giving Democrats a 4-1 supermajority on the Southampton Town Board.

Neely was the top vote getter in the race, with Republican Southampton Town Councilmember Cyndi McNamara placing second and her GOP ally Rick Martel placing third, according to the board of elections.

Democrats also swept the Southampton Town Trustees races, ousting incumbents Ed Warner Jr., Chip Maran, and Scott Horowitz. Democratic challengers Jimmy Mack, Hannah Pell-O’Farrell, and Sara Topping will join re-elected Democratic incumbents Matt Parson and Joseph McLoughlin Jr. on the board.

Southampton Town Clerk Sundy Schermeyer, a Republican, defeated Democratic challenger Marc Bernardo.

Southampton Town Supervisor Maria Moore sailed unopposed to victory for a second term on the Democratic and Conservative lines, as did Southampton Town Highway Superintendent Charles McArdle and Southampton Town Court Justice Patrick Gunn, who both also had the Republican line.

TOWN OF RIVERHEAD

Back on the North Fork is one of the biggest potential upsets of the night for the top job in the Town of Riverhead.

Riverhead Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard’s bid for a second term on the solidly Republican town board remains in limbo since Democratic challenger Jerry Halpin of Calverton has a 21-vote lead over Hubbard, according to the unofficial early vote tallies. Neither Halpin nor Hubbard commented on the results.

“Voters … have until [Nov. 12] for their ballots to be timely if it was postmarked by Election Day,” John Alberts, the Democratic commissioner for the Suffolk elections board, told Dan’s Papers. He noted that a recount can’t happen until the results are certified next week.

Hubbard’s Republican allies on the town board, Bob Kern and Kenneth Rothwell, were both re-elected. So was first-term Riverhead Superintendent of Highways Michael Zaleski and Laverne Tennenberg, who chairs the three-member Riverhead Board of Assessment Review and has served in the role since 1989 — both uncontested Republicans.

TOWN OF SOUTHOLD

Democrats also had a big night across the North Fork, where Doroski vacated his seat on the Southold Town Board in his bid for higher office.

Democrats Brian Mealy and Alexa Suess beat Republicans Nicholas Planamento and Christopher Talbot, returns show, and Democrat Kate Stevens beat Republican Stephanie Hall in the race to fill the town board and town justice seat for Fishers Island being vacated by Republican Louisa Evans.

Republican Southold Town Clerk Denis Noncarrow and Democratic Southold Highway Superintendent Daniel Goodwin both won re-election over their respective challengers.

TOWN OF EAST HAMPTON

East Hampton Town voters elected their first new town clerk in more than a decade and the Democratic stronghold kept the seat blue when Democrat Michael Hansen beat Republican Jeff Miller to replace outgoing Clerk Carole Brennan.

Democrats also retained total control of the East Hampton Town Board when incumbent Democratic Councilmembers Ian Calder-Piedmonte and  Cate Rogers were re-elected over Republican challengers Scott W. Smith and J.P. Foster.

Re-elected without opposition were first-term East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, East Hampton Town Highway Superintendent Stephen Lynch, East Hampton Town Court Justice Steven Tekulsky, and Eugene DePasquale, who serves on the three-member board of assessors.

East Hampton Trustees Democratic incumbents who also swept their re-election over GOP opponents were Celia Josephson, David Cataletto, Tim Garneau, and John Aldred.

TOWN OF SHELTER ISLAND

The blue gains continued in the East End’s smallest town when Democratic challenger Shelby Mundy unseated Shelter Island Town Clerk Amber Wilson, a Republican.

Democrats also retained one open seat on the toan board when Liz Hanley won a seat vacated by Shelter Island Town Councilman Gordon Gooding, who lost a bid to unseat first-term Shelter Island Town Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams, a Republican.

Councilmember Meg Larsen and Highway Superintendent Ken Lewis Jr. were both re-elected over Democratic challengers.

-With Michael Malaszczyk