Year in Preview: What 2026 Has in Store for the East End
The news, like much of life, can be unpredictable from day to day. But like many milestones in our personal lives, there are some newsworthy events that we can see coming and prepare for.
For example, while we may not know yet with 100% certainty which political candidates’ names will appear on ballots on Election Day — a lot can happen in the next 11 months — we do know for which elected positions elections will be held in November 2026.As we prepare for the new year and all that comes with it, here is a broad look at what stories we anticipate making headlines in the 12 months to come.
HITTING THE POLLS
This year is sure to be as wild an election season as one can get without a presidential contest at the top of the ticket. On tap in 2026 are the congressional midterm elections in which U.S. Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville), who represents the East End, is building up his war chest in a bid to help Republicans maintain the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. Democrats hope to ride a wave of opposition to President Donald Trump’s policies to win back control of the House. Also on ballots this year will be a gubernatorial matchup between Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat seeking a third term, and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican trying to unseat her, as well as New York State Senate and Assembly seats — three races total on the East End. Padding the ballots this year will be many local races, such as several local town supervisor seats, that voters decided in November, but had truncated terms intended to realign the election cycle under a new state law created to lump those races into even-year elections to boost voter turnout. That is, if ongoing legal challenges don’t overturn that law before Election Day.
CONTINUING CRISIS
Housing costs are expected to continue rising, further exacerbating the ongoing housing crisis that has made affordable housing the dominant issue in the region. The East End towns have begun allocating — or at least debating how to allocate — the millions of dollars that the new Community Housing Fund created to help localities support construction of new affordable housing projects. But, given the time it takes to get such developments approved and built, will these residences offer truly affordable options at a pace that can keep up with the flow of residents being priced out of the market? Which projects will survive the Not In My Backyard opposition? And how might broader national economic uncertainty impact this issue in the months to come?
Recent news that the Trump administration is ratcheting up its war on offshore wind farms — including two currently under construction off the coast of Long Island, one of which is 30 miles off Montauk — raises a number of questions we’ll be watching for answers to in 2026. Will legal challenges succeed in putting thousands of windfarm crewmembers back to work anytime soon? How might this push and pull affect the ongoing effort to build local Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) that are part of the state’s green energy infrastructure? And what might all this mean for our electric bills?
COASTAL CONCERNS
The $1.7 billion Fire Island Inlet to Montauk Point project (FIMP) will continue chugging along on the South Fork while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency that implements that coastal storm mitigation effort, is scheduled to simultaneously contract the dredging of Mattituck Inlet on the North Fork this year. Will federal funding for these efforts be forthcoming or face cuts like those that the Trump administration has made at other national agencies? And will these billions of dollars in taxpayer funding be enough to mitigate sea level rise?
CASES TO WATCH
The Hamptons will have its share of high-profile criminal cases to watch for in the months to come. The tragic death of Sara Burack, the 40-year-old Netflix reality show real estate agent killed in Hampton Bays this summer, will be subject of the pending fatal hit-and-run trial of Amenda Kempton, 32, of Virginia. Charges against Luis Gonzalo Barrionuevo-Fuertes for allegedly driving drunk and causing the crash that killed 19-year-old junior and English as a New Language (ENL) student Scarleth S. Urgiles last summer will be closely watched. And any updates in the case against alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann, who is accused of killing Sandra Castilla, who was found dead in 1993 in the Hamptons community of North Sea — and six other women — will continue to draw international headlines.
PROCRASTINATING POT
With more litigation than grand opening celebrations last year for local recreational cannabis dispensaries, it seems the fledgling adult-use marijuana industry still has some kinks to work out to get up to full speed. Charlie Fox in Southampton became the fourth state-licensed pot shop to open on the East End after Strain Stars opened in Riverhead, Beleaf debuted in Calverton, and Brown Buddha hit Southampton. All of those followed shops on the Shinnecock Nation’s Southampton territory that lacked the same red tape. Might the state and towns pick up the pace and open up more stores in the new year?
The Trump administration’s mass deportation effort is likely to continue sparking protests, as it once again did on the day this issue went to press. Besides the criminal cases above to be watched, also closely observed will be the deportation proceedings of immigrants that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents locally detained. Add to that the Westhampton postal worker who was arrested for trying to help an ICE detainee escape from the back of a patrol vehicle.
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