The Smithtown Republican group easily dispatched the Democratic slate, three of whom are repeat candidates from years prior.
Over the last six years, the Smithtown Republican team under the leadership of Supervisor Ed Wehrheim (R-Kings Park) has campaigned and governed on a pledge of reversing the decades of poor planning and neglect from the previous administration. Stressing infrastructure, downtown revitalization, and quality of life improvements, two incumbents on the Town Council and the incumbent Receiver of Taxes campaigned for re-election this year, while the open seat of Town Clerk was finally filled after being vacated by now-County Clerk Vinny Puleo (R-Nesconset).
The Smithtown GOP swept all offices with north of 60% of the vote in each, defeating a familiar group of Democratic candidates with one newcomer.
Town Council
In the at-large council, all candidates, regardless of party, appear on the same ballot. The top two vote-receivers are elected to the council. Incumbent councilmembers Lisa Inzerillo (R-Kings Park) and Tom Lohmann (R-Smithtown) were handsomely re-elected with a combined 65% of the vote. Inzerillo was first elected in 2015, while Lohmann was appointed in 2018 and elected in 2019.
Challengers Sarah Tully (D-St. James) and Maria Scheuring (D-Smithtown) took a combined 35%.
Inzerillo* (R): 32.60%
Lohmann* (R): 32.50%
Tully (D): 17.50%
Scheuring (D): 17.28%
Lohmann and Inzerillo stressed keeping the momentum of the new Smithtown team under Wehrheim and campaigned on maintaining the Town’s efforts in revitalization. Tully’s campaign message hoped to set herself apart from the rest of the slate, emphasizing her position in a young family with children. Scheuring, on the other hand, campaigned on a more angry view of the Town, making frequent comparisons to Patchogue and that the Town is “working backwards.”
Town Clerk
The open seat of Town Clerk easily went to Thomas D. McCarthy (R-Smithtown) over perennial candidate Bill Holst (D-Nesconset) by nearly thirty points. Since the role of Town Clerk is less political than that of the Town Council, McCarthy and Holst had similar views on digitizing records and increasing office services. However, McCarthy’s management experience in national and international companies was more attractive to voters than Holst’s decades-long legal and political background.
McCarthy campaigned on a message of increasing community outreach and creating instructional how–to videos for constituents to consult on how to interact with the Clerk’s office and utilize its service. His tone was one of cooperation with the current administration, while Holst remained more adversarial and campaigned against the former administration of Puleo.
McCarthy has never held elected office, while Holst has served as a County Legislator and has run for Smithtown Supervisor in 2005 and 2017.
McCarthy soundly defeated Holst by a thirty-point margin.
McCarthy (R): 64.62%
Holst (D): 35.26%
Receiver of Taxes
With the Receiver of Taxes being perhaps the most apolitical elected position in Smithtown, campaigning for this seat is complicated due to the job being more concerned with constituent services and clerical work than public policy. In its own right, this race didn’t warrant much attention, as incumbent Deanna Varricchio (D-St. James) handily dispatched challenger Amy Fortunato (D-Smithtown).
Fortunato and Varricchio did not vary their messages much due to the nature of the job. However, Varricchio touted her long tenure and experience in the tax office, while Fortunato admitted on the campaign trail that the job is not one she is “fully aware of,” but that she would “be glad to learn the best I can.”
Fortunato previously ran for Town Council in 2017.
Varricchio* (R): 67.41%
Fortunato (D): 32.48%
With a relatively uncompetitive ballot this year, and another sound Republican victory in the books, Smithtown now continues forward under Supervisor Wehrheim and a fully-staffed Town government.
Other Town Results at a Glance
In Brookhaven, the GOP defended Republican turf while nearly ousting the lone elected Democrat in the entire town.
For the open seat of Town Supervisor, Deputy Supervisor and Councilman Dan Panico (R-Center Moriches) won the seat with 62% of the vote over SUNY Westbury professor and former Hamden, Connecticut, mayor Lillian Clayman (D-Port Jefferson).
Panico (R): 61.94%
Clayman (D): 37.97%
Republican incumbents were re-elected to the Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Districts each with more than 60% of the vote. In the open Sixth District, vacated by Panico, Karen Dunne Kesnig (R-Manorville) won with nearly 70% of the vote.
In the First District, the lone elected Democrat in Brookhaven, Councilman Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook), survived a spirited challenge from political newcomer Gary Bodenburg (R-Port Jefferson). The First Council District contains Setauket-Port Jefferson-Stony Brook territory that overlaps with the competitive Fifth District in the County Legislature, giving the GOP a rare opportunity to contest this blue seat.
Kornreich* (D): 54.91%
Bodenburg (R): 45.00%
In Islip, the GOP performed a clean sweep as Supervisor Angie Carpenter (R-West Islip) cruised to a third term over Ken Colón (D-Brentwood).
Carpenter* (R): 63.22%
Colón (D): 36.58%
Republicans also swept the three other positions on the ballot with commanding margins: Town Clerk, Council District Three, and Council District Four.
Republicans remained dominant in Riverhead and Huntington, while outgoing County Legislator Al Krupski (D-Cutchogue) was easily elected Southold Town Supervisor with over 70% of the vote.
Republican turnout was comparatively not as strong in Babylon and Southampton, and Democrats maintained their ironclad hold on East Hampton Township.
However, Republicans appear to have flipped control of the Shelter Island Town Supervisorship, as well-known Councilwoman Amber Brach-Williams (R) leads Arnott Gordon Gooding (D) by just under three points.
