SUFFOLK COUNTY – New York held its primaries on Tuesday, with the majority of the attention set on the U.S. House.
NY-01
This was the only engaged primary that affects most of Suffolk. NY-01 covers the entire towns of East Hampton, Riverhead, Shelter Island, Smithtown, Southampton, Southold, most of Huntington, and the northern half of Brookhaven.
New York Army National Guard Veteran and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic controller Chris Gallant (D-Amity Harbor) soundly defeated Lukas Ventouras (D-Northport), a first-generation American and NYU history major. Gallant advanced with 63% of the vote to Ventouras’ 37%. Gallant’s win captivated most of the county within the district, while Ventouras had few bases of support: Ronkonkoma, Lake Grove, Setauket, Stony Brook, Port Jefferson Station, and a few parcels of western Huntington and southern Smithtown. Gallant trounced Ventouras on the East End.
Gallant has secured several high-profile endorsements, including Pete Buttigieg (D-MI), the former Secretary of Transportation and 2020 presidential candidate, Congressman Pat Ryan (D-Gardiner), Suffolk County Legislator and Minority Leader Jason Richberg (D-West Babylon), Suffolk Legislators Greg Doroski (D-Mattituck), Ann Welker (D-North Sea), Steve Englebright (D-Setauket), and Tom Donnelly (D-Deer Park). 2024 nominee John Avlon (D-Gramercy Park) also endorsed Gallant, as did former Assemblyman Fred Thiele (D-Sag Harbor).
LaLota is running for a third term and was unopposed on Tuesday night for the Republican nomination. He defeated Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming (D-Noyac) for the open seat in 2022 and defeated Avlon in 2024, both by similar margins.
According to the Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) latest reports, LaLota sits atop a $3 million war chest. Gallant raked in about $500,000 this cycle, but has about $81,000 cash on hand. Ventouras brought in just over $120,000 and ends the campaign with $21,000 in the bank.
NY-02
This district takes in all of Babylon and Islip towns, as well as the southern half of Brookhaven, and a small portion of Oyster Bay. Congressman Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport) has represented the district since 2021, succeeding the legendary Pete King (R-Seaford) in a narrow race in 2020. Garbarino has since been elected in landslides, defeating Jackie Gordon (D-Copiague) in 2022 and Rob Lubin (D-Lindenhurst) in 2024.
Democrats scored an interesting recruit for this, former Suffolk County Executive Pat Halpin (D-Oak Beach), who left elected office in 1991 after one term as the fifth County Executive of Suffolk. He previously served as Chair of the Suffolk County Water Authority (SCWA).
A primary was avoided here between Halpin and Garett Petersen (D-East Islip), Chair of the Islip Democratic Committee, who suspended his campaign in April after his petition signatures were challenged.
Garbarino starts the race with $2.8 million in the bank, according to the FEC. Halpin brought in almost $430,000 this cycle but currently has $82,000 on hand.
NY-03 and NY-04
A slice of northwestern Huntington is represented by NY-03, with the rest belonging to northern Nassau and parts of Queens. Congressman Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) won a February 2023 special election after the expulsion of George Santos (R-Queens), where he narrowly defeated Nassau County Legislator Mazi Melesa Pilip (R-Manhasset). Suozzi has a closer-than-expected race over former one-term Assemblyman Mike LiPetri (R-Farmingdale) in 2024, despite President Trump carrying the district that night.
Suozzi has been playing a careful balancing act, earning ire from his voters on his more moderate positions on immigration, while also being a Democrat in a red-trending seat. Suozzi defeated Danielle Welch (D) with 80% of the vote, while LiPetri easily defeated Air Force Veteran and lawyer Gregory Hach (R-Hicksville) with 82% of the vote to set up a high-stakes rematch.
Suozzi has a massive $5.5 million war chest, compared to LiPetri’s $730,000 cash-on-hand.
For NY-04, which covers the southern half of Nassau, Republicans are keen on flipping one of the nation’s prime swing districts that flipped red in 2022 and flipped back to blue in 2024.
Congresswoman Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre) was unopposed for the primary on Tuesday night, while the GOP nod went to Hempstead Receiver of Taxes Jeanine Driscoll (R-Bellerose). The late scramble for a candidate was due to the possibility of former Congressman Anthony D’Esposito (R-Island Park) opting to run for the seat he narrowly lost in 2024. In January, D’Esposito took a job in the Trump Administration as Inspector General for the Department of Labor.
Both seats are expected to be competitive as the GOP hopes to grow their already-tenuous House majority. In 2022, the GOP captured all four Long Island seats for the first time since the 1990s.
Statewide Races
Both parties were headed towards primaries for governor. On the Republican side, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-Schuylerville) had substantial leads over the late-entering Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman (R-Atlantic Beach) after she had spent much of 2025 posturing for a statewide run. She suspended her campaign mere weeks after formally launching it in November, leaving Blakeman the sole heir to the Republican nod for governor.
On the Democratic side, Governor Kathy Hochul (D-Hamburg), who narrowly avoided an historic upset in 2022, saw her hand-picked Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado (D-Rhinebeck) mount a challenge against her. Delgado suspended his campaign in February after failing to get the Democratic nomination at the convention and without a credible path forward.
Attorney General Letitia James (D-Clinton Hill) was unopposed for the Democratic nomination, as was newcomer Saritha Komatireddy (R). James was first elected in 2018.
The only statewide race that drew a primary was for that of Comptroller, where Tom DiNapoli (D-Great Neck Plaza), New York’s longest-serving statewide elected official, saw two candidates attempt to knock him off, owing the state’s financial hardships to a lack of fiscal stewardship on DiNapoli’s part. DiNapoli swept every county in the state. He won Suffolk with 76% of the vote to Drew Warshaw’s (D) 14% and Raj Goyle’s (D) 10%. DiNapoli’s margins slipped in the more progressive enclaves of Brooklyn, Queens, and Ithaca.
