The Seventh Assembly District is being vacated this year by three-term Assemblyman Jarett Gandolfo (R-Sayville). He is running for the Eighth Senate District to fill a vacancy prompted by the retirement of Senator Alexis Weik (R-Sayville).
That led Islip Town Councilwoman DawnMarie Kuhn (R-Bohemia) to throw her hat in the ring for the open seat.
Kuhn was elected to represent the Town’s Second Council District in 2025, a contest in which she defeated David Chan (D-Oakdale) 58%-41%. Kuhn holds multiple high-level degrees in public policy and statistical/data analytics and served as Chief of Staff for six years to then-Legislator, now-Presiding Officer Anthony Piccirillo (R-Holtsville).
Kuhn hosted her official campaign kickoff last Thursday in East Islip. She said her impetus for running is to bring her election law, local government, and data analytics skills to the various committees in the State Legislature’s lower chamber, as well as to support law enforcement and enhance Suffolk’s safety and affordability.
“I want to keep local control, not Hochul control,” Kuhn told The Messenger, referencing Governor Kathy Hochul’s (D-Hamburg) bipartisanly panned 2022 plan to erode local zoning controls to ameliorate the state’s housing stock concerns.
“Bail reform is a tremendous issue and it needs to be repealed,” said Kuhn. Fixing Tier 6, of which Kuhn as a municipal employee is a member, is also a priority.
“We’re doing the same job as our colleagues that may be ten, fifteen, twenty years older than us. We don’t have the same retirement and that’s not fair,” said Kuhn. “My cousins, who are teachers, shouldn’t have to be in the same classroom from twenty years old to sixty-three years and retire with less of a pension than their colleagues who were lucky enough to be in Tier 4.”
Fresh off an election win to the Islip Town Council, Kuhn said her quick pivot arose from her specific recruitment by the group Women on the Rise, made up of State Assembly Republican women.
“Unfortunately, out of the forty-seven Republican members of the State Assembly, only three are women,” said Kuhn, 38, adding that as a Millennial, she can bring a voice for women to Albany that is “sorely needed on the Republican side.”
Of her first hundred days at Town Hall, Kuhn said legislation passed as consisted of appointing heads to the Adjudication Bureau, Tax Assessor, and Planning Boards position, as well as “critical legislation.”
Kuhn’s age also complements a younger profile, especially among Islip Republicans. Presiding Officer Piccirillo, Assemblyman Gandolfo, as well as Assemblyman Doug Smith (R-Holbrook) and Congressman Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport), are all under 45 years of age.
“It makes me very hopeful for the future. For far too long, we’ve been allowing other people to make decisions for our generation and to be a part of that team is very humbling,” said Kuhn. “We want Suffolk to remain the suburban dream that we grew up with in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s.”
Suffolk Republican Committee Chairman Jesse Garcia (R-Ridge) said that Kuhn’s recruitment is crucial for the Republicans’ minority caucus in the Assembly, which is dwarfed by the Democrats’ 103-seat supermajority.
“Kuhn was overwhelmingly elected to an open Town Council seat in a year we new was going to be difficult for Republicans,” Garcia told The Messenger. “This year, when we need fighters, it’s not just about youth; it’s about experience. She’s a small business owner, someone who’s been embedded in the community, someone who has done the work for recognition, accolades, or remuneration – just because of her love for the community. That’s what we want first and foremost.”
Garcia hailed Kuhn’s “independent” nature and ability to “speak her mind.”
Of Kuhn’s quick ascension from Town Hall to the Assembly campaign trail, Garcia compared the move to the NFL draft.
“We have our number-one pick because people from Albany were looking to sign her early. When the vacancy showed up, we needed someone who we could depend on, someone tested, experienced, and not scared to fight.”
Of the Islip Republican Committee’s comparative youth to other parts of the County GOP’s machine, Garcia said that that component of the many assets across the map makes Islip “successful.”
Assemblyman and Islip GOP Chairman Smith said that Republican women in the Assembly “pressed hard” for Kuhn to run to succeed Gandolfo.
“It’s going to work out very well,” Smith told The Messenger. “She will be very missed in the Town of Islip, but she’ll be an asset to the Assembly Republican Conference in Albany.”
Assemblyman Gandolfo has no qualms of leaving his seat behind to a potential successor in Kuhn.
“When I made this decision [to run for State Senate], one of the things weighing on me was who would fill the seat,” Gandolfo told The Messenger. “All of those concerns went away.”
Within the Town of Islip, the Seventh District includes Atlantique, Bay Shore, Bayport, Brightwaters, East Islip, Fire Island, Great River, Islip Terrace, North Great River, Oakdale, Ocean Beach, Saltaire, Sayville, West Bay Shore, West Sayville, and parts of Bohemia, Gilgo-Oak Beach-Captree, Islip hamlet, and West Islip. Within the Town of Brookhaven, the district contains Blue Point, Fire Island, Patchogue, and parts of East Patchogue.
Kuhn will likely face Patricia Kopp (D-Oakdale) in the November general election. Gandolfo was re-elected to this seat in 2024 over Garett Petersen (D-East Islip) 63%-37%. Across his three elections, he never received less than 60% of the vote.
