Meet Suffolk County Conservative Party Chairman Michael Torres

Although the party had a successful 2025, Suffolk County Conservative Chairman Michael Torres isn’t sitting back and coasting into 2026.

Torres understands the importance of the midterm elections in November. Control of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate are up for grabs, along with state and territorial U.S. gubernatorial elections, as well as state and local elections.

“While most people have made up their minds about who they are going to vote for before they go into the polling booth, you still have to get them to the polls,” says Torres, who was unanimously elected chairman in 2020, and was Party secretary from 2008 until 2020. “My priority, our priority is to elect conservatives to public office, and to ensure that candidates truly embrace the core values of the Conservative Party.”

He also added that they have some strong issues that are important to voters such as school curriculum, support for President Donald Trump’s policies, taxes and government spending. Torres, as is the case with most Conservatives, is an advocate for a commonsense approach to government.

“As Conservatives, we care about paying less in taxes, [smaller] government, backing the police,” says Torres, who lives in Eastport with wife, Betsy, and their three children, ages 8, 4 and 2. Besty is a New York State Supreme Court justice. “We believe in paying our taxes, but want the money to be well-spent.”

Torres adds that he backs Trump but believes we should all pay attention to how government operates.

“I believe that the death of Charlie Kirk united Republicans,” says Torres of the shooting death of the right-wing political activist and media personality who was killed Sept. 10, 2025, during a speaking engagement. Torres says division between the middle and the extreme left within the Democrat Party keeps their party from building toward the middle.

“I think the primaries forced Gov. [Kathy] Hochul’s hand,” Torres explained. “I think she’s going to have a [excrement] show on her hands this year. I do think with the money she’s raising, she will be able to scare off most opponents.

“I would say ‘Be careful what you wish for,’ ” added Torres, who previously served as the chairman of the Islip Town Conservative Party. He has also served in various capacities with the county party, including sitting on the executive board of the Conservative Party for several terms and serving as the county’s secretary under former chairman Frank Tinari, who later endorsed Torres’ bid for chairman. “Mamdani and AOC [U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] are the face of the Democrat Party.”

A tireless worker, in his first term as chairman, he helped re-elect Congressman Lee Zeldin in 2020 and elect Andrew Garbarino to Congress to replace 14-term Congressman Peter King. In 2021, the first local election with him at the helm of the party, the control of the Suffolk County Legislature hung in the balance.

Torres’ leadership was instrumental in electing Ray Tierney as Suffolk County district attorney, electing Leg. Nick Caracappa (C-Selden), in addition to flipping the body’s control to Conservative and Republican for the first time in 16 years. In 2023, they elected a second Conservative, Chad Lennon, to the Suffolk County Legislature.

Early in 2026, they will officially endorse Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman for governor.

“We expect the state Conservative Party to do the same,” Torres said.

Formed in 1962, the Conservative Party has grown from a small band of conservative-minded individuals to a statewide organization dedicated to the traditional American values of individual freedom, individual responsibility and individual effort.

Among its accomplishments at the ballot box were the elections of James L. Buckley to the U.S. Senate; William Carney to the House of Representatives; Serphin R. Maltese to the State Senate; and Rosemary R. Gunning, Charles Jerabec and Angela M. Wozniak to the State Assembly. They’ve also been successful at the county, town and village levels. In 1994, it was the 326,605 Conservative Party votes that gave George E. Pataki the governorship. In 1998, the number grew to 348,272, topping the previous by more than 20,000 votes. The Conservative Party in New York has played a pivotal role in the margin of victory for everything from State Supreme Court justices to Village board members, mayors, city council members and Ward leaders. The party strongly supports term limits.

Today, there are more registered Conservative Party members in elective office in Suffolk than at any time in history. Torres is the first Latin American chair in the organization’s history.

“My number one goal is to get Conservatives in office,” Torres says, referencing that his party is the largest Conservative force in New York State. “I have and will continue to fight for our voices to be heard, our interests to be represented in all levels of government, and I will remain committed to our conservative values as we collectively work to elect candidates to town, county, state and federal offices and to the bench.”

Torres, who was previously the Islip Town Chair, is a lifelong Suffolk County resident with deep conservative roots.  He comes from a family of small-business owners and learned from a young age how hard work, investing in communities, and building a successful company, as his father did, could help individuals achieve the “American Dream.”  When he is not working on behalf of the Suffolk County Conservative Party, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Betsy, and their three young children.  He is an avid fisherman and serves as Chief Deputy County Clerk under Suffolk County Clerk Vincent Puleo.

Todd Shapiro is an award-winning publicist and associate publisher of Dan’s Papers.