Four years ago, Ray Tierney (R) mounted a campaign then thought to be unwinnable, but ousted then-District Attorney Tim Sini (D-Mt. Sinai) by a whopping ten point margin.
Unopposed for re-election this year, Tierney earned 144,417 votes to earn a second term.
“Four years ago, I was told I wouldn’t win,” Tierney told supporters Tuesday night at the GOP watch party in Patchogue. “My opponent had more money, more institutional support, and the advantage of incumbency.”
Tierney swept then-D.A. Tim Sini (D-Mt. Sinai) out of office by a ten-point margin.
Tierney thanked his family, colleagues, law enforcement partners – including Sheriff Toulon – for their collaboration and support.
“Law and order is the way here in Suffolk County. We are the safest county in the state and one of the safest big counties in the nation,” said Tierney. “That’s the way it’s going to be – as long as I am District Attorney of Suffolk County.”
Meanwhile, Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon (D) was re-elected in an unopposed contest, securing a third term with 165,571 votes.
“I am deeply grateful to the residents of Suffolk County for their continued trust and support in the work I’ve done as Sheriff,” Toulon told The Messenger. “I look forward to serving four more years and continuing the initiatives I’ve started, like rehabilitation programs, leveraging intelligence to protect our communities, and expanding efforts to support our youth. Together with our law enforcement partners, I will continue to work to strengthen the safety, security, and future of Suffolk County.”
County Results
Democrats overperformed in Tuesday’s election, flipping one seat on the County Legislature and costing the Republicans their supermajority.
Southold Town Councilman Greg Doroski (D-Mattituck) ousted one-term Legislator Catherine Stark (R-Riverhead) in the North Fork-based First District, which includes parts of Manorville and Calverton in Brookhaven Town, northern hamlets of Southampton Town, and the entire towns of Riverhead, Southold, and Shelter Island.
“I am very proud of our victory. It not only affirms the hard work we put into this campaign and my record on the Southold Town Board; it rejects the tired cliched attacks the Suffolk GOP ran against me and my record that disrespected the intelligence of our community,” Legislator-elect Doroski told The Messenger.
With 100% of precincts reporting, Doroski defeated Stark with 11,219 votes to 10,311 – a 52.09%-47.88% margin.
“As we await the full outcome of this race, I’m proud that our vision, our values, and our determination remain unchanged,” Stark told The Messenger. “We have accomplished great things – historical changes that will have longstanding benefits for the East End. Thank you to my family and every supporter who stood by me. Our work continues.”
In the South Fork-based Second District, one-term Legislator Ann Welker (D-Southampton) cruised to victory with 69.95% of the vote over Raheem Soto’s (R-East Quogue) 30.03%.
The First District was the only flip of the night on the County Legislature, with Republicans and Democrats holding all their other seats. Races that were on our watchlist, the Brentwood-based Ninth District, the Three Village-based Fifth District, and the Huntington-based Sixteenth District re-elected their incumbent Democrats handily.
However, Republicans across the board underperformed relative to 2023, with some incumbents facing only paper opposition winning with less than 60% of the vote.
Democrats were bullish on ousting two-term Legislator Stephanie Bontempi (R-Centerport) in the northern Huntington-based Eighteenth District. Bontempi was re-elected with 50.84% of the vote to Craig Herskowitz’s (D-Northport) 49.15%.
Democrats took a strong hold of Babylon, with incumbent Democrats winning with north of 75% of the vote, while in the Riverhead Supervisor’s race, incumbent one-term Supervisor Tim Hubbard (R-Aquebogue) is trailing political newcomer Jerry Halpin (D-Riverhead) by just 21 votes out of about 7,600 ballots cast.
Suffolk County Republican Chairman Jesse Garcia (R-Ridge) discussed the implications of the results.
“We’re going to come back with a Republican majority in the Legislature, but I think there’s national trends that hit us tonight and the fact that there’s a natural letdown after a very successful national election,” Garcia told The Messenger. “The voters did their job. Now our job, in a low-turnout election, is to generate enthusiasm in that election. I’m very proud of the work we did. We retained many town seats and challenged Democrats in seats they had to defend.”
Garcia added that despite the “natural” backswing after a national romp in 2024, Suffolk County is still in “good hands” with Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches) as County Executive and Ray Tierney as District Attorney.
“When you capture the White House, the U.S. Senate, and the U.S. House, there is natural time for the electorate to feel they’ve done their job and there’s a little bit of relaxation,” said Garcia. “Our job is to remind the voters of the importance of local elections because it’s these local elected officials that truly make the difference almost immediately in real-time in their lives.”
Of the loss of Legislator Stark, Garcia said that the letdown really washed ashore in Riverhead.
“We performed as suspected in Brookhaven and Southampton, we knew we were going to have a problem in Southold, and Shelter Island is always a gambit there. It’s a bit of a mixed bag,” said Garica. “In 2022, 2023, and 2024, Republicans in Riverhead Town outpaced Democrats in early voting. This year, they did not. We applied a few more resources to the town and we were getting some mixed data on our identifications there. That underperformance is truly what hurt Catherine Stark.”
Of the national moods, Garcia said the Democratic surge wasn’t a “natural overcorrection”, but rather a “natural exhale of the electorate.”
“They’ve just gone through a bruising national election. We walked out of there with an eleven-seat majority in the Legislature and a district attorney [Tierney] that is truly America’s District Attorney.”
Ballot Measures
Proposition 2, the Term Limit Preservation Act, passed handily, with 128,870 votes 95,476 votes – 57.44%-42.56%.
Suffolk County Legislators will now serve four years terms going forward, with the incoming term set to start in January being a three-year term to align with the State’s even-year election law. The law was bitterly contested by Suffolk and Nassau counties, with the law being upheld on appeal about two weeks ago.
The initiative avoids a scenario in which County Legislators elected on Tuesday would have to run again in 2026, followed by another campaign in 2028. The County Legislators elected on Tuesday night will not have to run again until 2028, after which the all eighteen seats on the horseshoe will be up in 2032.
The New York State ballot measure to allow development rights for the Mount Van Hoevenberg Sports Complex in Lake Placid, while offsetting it with 2,500 acres of forest to be included into the Adirondack Forest Preserve. Unofficial results have the initiative, which would be an amendment to the State Constitution, passing with 1,895,861 votes to 1,750,855 – 52%-48%.
