Candidate: Tom Donnelly
Residence: Deer Park
Office: Suffolk County Legislature District Seventeen
First Elected: November 2017
Committees: Fire, Rescue, and Emergency Medical Services & Preparedness; Health; Public Safety; Ways & Means
Party Endorsements: Democratic, Conservative
First elected in 2017, Legislator Tom Donnelly (D-Deer Park) is running for a fourth term this year.
A life-long resident of Deer Park, he is a 1984 Graduate of Deer Park High School, earned an Associate’s Degree from Suffolk County Community College and a Bachelor of Science Degree from Saint Joseph’s College of Brooklyn.
According to the Suffolk County Legislature website, Donnelly is “retired as a 30-year veteran with the City of New York in 2017, serving three years as a NYPD officer in the 83rd Precinct in Patrol Borough Brooklyn North before entering the New York City Fire Department. In the FDNY, Legislator Donnelly was a Decorated Lieutenant, serving in some of the department’s busiest units. He was a member of the elite Urban Search, Rescue Search and Rescue Task Force with deployments to the World Trade Center attacks in 2001, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Haiti Earthquake in 2010 and other regional deployments to assist in Search and Rescue of Communities impacted by severe weather events.”
Donnelly is also a thirty-year-plus Decorated Member of the Deer Park Fire Department. He served as Captain of Engine Company 2, as Fire Commissioner for 10 years and is still an active volunteer. He also volunteers for the Coast Guard Auxiliary on the Great South Bay in the Town of Babylon.
Donnelly has also been a strong supporter of local causes, “partnering with Blue Star Moms, LI#6 to gather donations for packages to send to our service members overseas, collecting for Long Island Cares Baxter’s Pet Pantry, organizing donation drives for the Long Island Coalition for the Homeless and many others.”
According to the Suffolk County Legislature website, Donnelly is a “former Town of Babylon Planning Board Member and Councilman. He was twice elected to the Babylon Town Board, serving from 2011 to 2017, where he chaired the Town of Babylon’s Family Wellness and Public Safety committee and was engaged in the Town’s Senior Citizen Centers and Family Wellness programs. As Chairman of the Town’s Public Safety committee, he served as the liaison for Volunteer Firefighters to the Town Board while spearheading Babylon’s response to quality of life issues.”
Donnelly lives with his wife Lisa, a registered nurse, in Deer Park with their three daughters.
Donnelly was first elected in 2017, posting a landslide twenty-five-point margin of victory. He was re-elected by an even larger twenty-eight-point margin in 2019. In the 2021 red wave, however, Donnelly only survived by a paltry nine-point win, signaling a possible shift in the political nature of this seat and the area.
Sponsored legislation (including, but not limited to):
- Resolution No. 243-2020, Directing the Suffolk County Police Department and the District Attorney’s office to provide written quarterly reports on the effects of Bail Reform in Suffolk County
- Resolution No.38-2020, Authorizing a technical correction to the 2020 adopted Operating Budget for North Babylon Chamber Foundation, Inc.
- Resolution No. 439-2020, Establishing an internal working group to develop new policies and procedures to enhance communication law enforcement and the Department of Social Services
- Resolution No. 364-2020, Amending the 2020 Operating Budget to establish a new position in the County Department of Social Services: Psychiatric Social Worker
Candidate: Catherine Corella
Residence: Deer Park
Office Sought: Suffolk County Legislature District Seventeen
Previous Elected Office: None
Party Endorsements: Republican
Challenging Legislator Donnelly is community organizer Catherine Corella. Corella ran unsuccessfully for Babylon Town Clerk in 2021, when she came within ten points of winning a town-wide seat in one of the most Democratic towns in Suffolk County.
According to her campaign website, Corella was “born and raised by immigrant parents in California. She has lived in New York since 2006 and is the proud mother of five children and 10 beautiful grandchildren.”
Corella started the Deer Park Chamber of Commerce, served as the secretary of Deer Park/North Babylon Kiwanis and volunteered for the Deer Park Community Association.
“We need representation that understands the diversity of our community,” says Corella on her website. “I am a Latina, female, mother, grandmother, and businesswoman who is not afraid to speak on behalf of those who need a voice.”
Her website lists several positions, including her desired work to give “Law Enforcement the tools they need to protect us from cashless bail and senseless state criminal justice reforms; fight state efforts to increase density and urbanize our communities; and balance economic development while preserving our environment and water quality.”
About the Seventeenth District
Suffolk County’s Seventeenth District includes parts of southern Huntington, parts of northeastern Babylon, and a small section of Islip. In Huntington, the district includes Dix Hills and Meville. In Babylon, it includes parts of Deer Park. In Islip, it includes parts of North Bay Shore.
Like the neighboring Sixteenth, Democrats have seen their margins slip entirely in these areas. After redistricting, the Seventeenth District has gotten thinner and more wiry in shape, but covers the same general areas.
The Messenger currently forecasts this seat as “Leans Democrat,” as we believe Donnelly’s more moderate record and experience as a first responder will help him in an area that is trending Republican. Donnelly was the only Democratic vote against the first round of sewer bills this summer before eventually voting to send them to a public vote.
This is one of the seats that will only display in which direction the County Executive race is moving, but also how the politics of western Suffolk continue to take shape in the new political era. As working-class and Latino voters have started backing the GOP on Long Island and nationally, it remains to be seen for how long Democrats can hold on in areas that continue to race out from under them. The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Districts exemplify this shift perfectly, although, like many long-standing political institutions, there is usually a “flirting” period until the district in question fully changes “sides.”
Watch Donnelly’s margins here on Election Day. If he’s keeping his head above ten points, then the GOP still has some work to do, but his victory could probably be owed to his personal brand of politics rather than that of the parties. If Donnelly is in a five-point race, it’s likely that western Suffolk is realigning, and that Legislator Manny Esteban (R-East Northport) in the neighboring Sixteenth is likely headed to a second term.
If Donnelly comes up on short on Election Day, it could be indicative of changing politics, but also tremendous down ballot energy from Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches) in the County Executive race.
