Find out the candidates the editorial board chose and why as endorsements are published throughout October.

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The Editorial Board

Long Islanders are about to cast the most supersized ballots in memory. 
These ballots are lengthy. They bulge with choices. That’s due to a new state law requiring local elections to be held in even-numbered years, in the same cycle as state and federal contests, ostensibly to maximize turnout. 
So global and national affairs are on the ballot this year in congressional races as stability in the Middle East and tariffs have become pocketbook issues, as is trying to find common ground on immigration policy. Statewide, energy has become paramount in the governor’s race: the construction of data centers, green energy and natural gas, battery storage, and finding ways to cut everyday costs. In state legislative races, there’s the matter of childcare and social programs and how to pay for them. Town supervisors, meanwhile, are challenged on housing, road conditions and water quality. 
In keeping with our public service mission to inform, the Newsday editorial board will be endorsing in 63 races for elected offices across Long Island. We will have held interviews with more than 120 candidates running on the major party lines. Both because of the sheer number of races and the partisan political times, the board is meeting with candidates running for the Nassau County Legislature, and for state Assembly and Senate, in groups, by party caucus. Amid polarization, with lopsided majorities in the different legislative bodies, we are seeking to distill how members of the same party view key issues, what their agenda for 2027 will be, and the prospects for governing rather than posturing. 
Some contests held last year are back in play Nov. 3 as a one-time adjustment to the election calendar. This includes town supervisors in Hempstead, North Hempstead, Riverhead and Southampton. 
Seats on the Nassau Legislature are up again for a second straight year, this time for two-year terms. Not so for the Suffolk County Legislature, where members now run for four-year terms. 
Atop the ballot are the four-year elections for governor, state comptroller and state attorney general. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman is challenging Gov. Kathy Hochul who’s running with state Attorney General Letitia James and state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. 
Battles for four U.S. House seats will give Long Island a potential national impact, coming at the midpoint of President Donald Trump’s second four-year term. All four Long Island incumbents — two Democrats and two Republicans — are seeking to fend off challenges. House margins are very close, with 219 in the Republican caucus and 214 Democrats now serving, plus two vacancies. 
Endorsements will be published throughout October for salient races with at least two candidates. Our nonpartisan choices are based on the board’s tracking of national, state and local issues as well as how candidates described their priorities and the experience they would bring to the job. 
The extensive ballots, the national drama to discern the mood of the country, the reach for the governor’s mansion by a Long Island county executive, and priorities of local and state lawmakers make this an extraordinary election. We invite you to consider our analyses and conclusions about the candidates, presented in Newsday’s continuing tradition of public service.

Editorials

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Our endorsements reflect a public service mission to inform

Endorsements reflect mission to inform

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There are constituents in Andrew Garbarino’s district who clearly find the Republican House incumbent not sufficiently conservative, a sentiment that manifests itself during campaign seasons when his lawn signs are purloined so the last four letters of his name can be highlighted. The new colored RINO signs are then returned to the spots where they were taken. 
Garbarino, who is running for his fourth term, is bemused by the “Republican In Name Only” label, saying he gets equal pushback for being too conservative. “If MAGA gets mad at me, it gets mad; if DSA gets mad at me, it gets mad,” he told the editorial board. “That’s how I do things.” 
And doing things that way is what makes Garbarino, 42, of Bayport, a valuable player in Congress for his district and for Long Island. 
Garbarino is close to Speaker Mike Johnson — one reason for his remarkable rise in House GOP leadership, ascending in July 2025 to chair of the Homeland Security Committee. The other reason is his willingness to stay out of the spotlight, instead building relationships with colleagues of many political persuasions, especially Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat. 
That’s why Garbarino, along with Gillibrand, was able to finally close a hard-fought deal to fund the World Trade Center Health Program through 2040. And the pair seem poised for another win later this year: almost $6 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reimburse the state and city’s 9/11-related pension costs for the untimely deaths and disability retirements of public workers who aided in the rescue and recovery after the attacks. 
His powerful perch and network was a benefit in December when the former Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem, decided to sabotage counterterrorism funding for New York as she slashed the approved $187 million by 80%. Garbarino is credited with going directly to the White House to get the funding restored, including that designated for the FDNY and Nassau and Suffolk law enforcement. 
But there was a moment to step out of his nonconfrontational style and demand accountability that Garbarino disappointingly did not meet. He should have been more aggressive in the committee’s oversight of the fatal shootings by federal agents of two protesters in Minnesota, by subpoenaing officials to testify and issuing an independent report on what happened. 
In the high-stakes battle to fully restore the federal deduction for state and local taxes that President Donald Trump took away in his first term, Garbarino was a key blue-state negotiator in getting the White House to agree to a $40,000 deduction with an income tax cap of $500,000, although he missed a key floor vote approving the 2025 Tax Act. 
Seeking to unseat Garbarino is one of the more familiar names in Long Island politics. Democrat Patrick Halpin, 73, of Oak Beach, was the youngest person elected Suffolk County executive and would be the oldest person from Long Island ever elected to Congress. 
One of Halpin’s accomplishments in his one term as county executive, from 1988 to 1991, was creating the Long Island Housing Partnership, a nonprofit that builds affordable housing and partners with local governments to give grants to first-time homebuyers. Currently chair of the Babylon Town Planning Board, Halpin cares passionately about developing more housing, saying that as a member of Congress he would seek federal tax incentives for developers to turn aging malls into residences. Halpin says an Amazon warehouse at the former Sunrise Mall in Massapequa is a missed opportunity. 
Halpin said he would make all salaried income subject to Social Security taxes to stabilize the program’s trust fund but he made quite clear that his reason for running is the “madman in the White House.” After spending 17 years on the board of the Suffolk County Water Authority, Halpin said he would work to “reverse the damage” the Trump administration has done to “green infrastructure” including renewing efforts to build wind energy off Long Island. 
For district residents whose vote primarily is to give Democrats the House majority in an effort to limit Trump’s reach in the last two years of his term, Halpin is a solid choice. 
The winning choice for Long Island, regardless of who controls the gavel, is Garbarino. He will remain an effective player for team New York. 
Newsday Opinion endorses Garbarino. <a class="p-smartembed" data-attr-caption="A map of the 2nd Congressional District.
" data-attr-credit="" data-attr-f="3x2" data-attr-has-caption="true" data-attr-has-credit="true" data-attr-q="0.3" data-attr-w="400" data-onecms-id="contentid/4a32c12d-f979-4441-9d47-05c7fe2febde" data-onecms-type="image" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/4a32c12d-f979-4441-9d47-05c7fe2febde', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/4a32c12d-f979-4441-9d47-05c7fe2febde"><img src="/image-service/alias/contentid/4a32c12d-f979-4441-9d47-05c7fe2febde/CD2.jpg?f=3x2&amp;w=400&amp;q=0.3">A map of the 2nd Congressional District. </a>

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Andrew Garbarino for New York's 2nd Congressional District

Newsday Opinion endorses Garbarino for 2nd Congressional District

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AIAudio - Andrew Garbarino for New York's 2nd Congressional District

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The 3rd Congressional District has a unique backstory. Democrat&nbsp;Thomas R. Suozzi represented it for six years before giving up the seat to oppose Gov. Kathy Hochul in the 2022 party primary. 
That year an unknown George Santos surprisingly captured the seat for the GOP during a midterm backlash against President Joe Biden. After Santos was expelled from the House in 2023, Suozzi returned in a special election to fill the seat and has held it since. 
Now Suozzi, 64, of Glen Cove,&nbsp;seeks a new term against Republican challenger Michael J. LiPetri Jr., 36, of Farmingdale,&nbsp;whom he defeated 52%-48% in 2024 even as President Donald Trump carried the district. 
Voters face a stark choice between the seasoned Suozzi and LiPetri, an&nbsp;attorney who served one term in the&nbsp;Assembly&nbsp;before his multiple efforts to win a seat in&nbsp;Congress, which started with a failed&nbsp;primary challenge to GOP incumbent Andrew Garbarino&nbsp;in CD2.&nbsp;LiPetri signals that he'd serve mainly as a loyal vote for Speaker Mike Johnson if the GOP majority holds. "I think what Mike Johnson has achieved with the majority razor thin, is an accomplishment," LiPetri told the Newsday editorial board. 
With those words, LiPetri defends Trump's most divisive initiatives to now — the Iran war, DOGE, mass deportations&nbsp;and ballooning debt&nbsp;—&nbsp;even if those policies involve&nbsp;sidestepping the role of Congress. 
Suozzi, who has been in public life for more three decades,&nbsp;is careful and selective&nbsp;when he critiques&nbsp;the elected GOP leadership and says the only chance to end the current Capitol chaos would be for the Democrats to recapture the majority. 
Suozzi,&nbsp;who co-chairs the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, says he needs Democratic, independent and Republican votes to prevail in his suburban district. He consistently shuns the left-wing agenda of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and rejects anti-police and anti-Israel rhetoric. 
Local issues are key. Both candidates say they support a restoration of unlimited state and local tax deductions on federal income taxes — which Republicans capped at $10,000 in Trump's first term, but then agreed to hike last year to $40,000 with an income cap. Both oppose the current plan for the proposed Propel NY Energy underground transmission lines on the North Shore. Both also support expanding childcare tax credits. 
Suozzi and LiPetri tout differing affordability proposals. 
One that stands out for the incumbent is the so-called WISH (Well-Being Insurance for Seniors to be at Home)&nbsp;Act to create a public-private partnership so those qualified can receive stipends for long-term care at home. The costs, standards and income requirements as presented sound flexible enough to have a chance to pass in fiscally difficult times. 
For his part, LiPetri says he wants an insurance system that, while covering all catastrophic occurrences, rewards prevention and healthy habits and moves away from employer-based insurance by making it "portable." He's vague on how this would work without penalizing those who&nbsp;already have coverage. 
Suozzi says the Iran war, driving debt and economic uncertainty, must end sooner rather than later. LiPetri agrees with&nbsp;Trump's assertions that only he&nbsp;can&nbsp;ensure Iran never gets nuclear weapons and that higher gas prices are the necessary&nbsp;cost of that effort. 
They differ on immigration. Last year Fernando Mejia, 41, was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as he arrived at the bagel store he managed for several years in Port Washington. Mejia, who overstayed a visa many years ago, ultimately was deported, leaving a 15-year-old daughter behind.&nbsp;It's to deal with such difficult immigration cases that Suozzi has been working on a comprehensive reform plan that would allow those who have established a life here and have no criminal background to have a path to legal status. 
But LiPetri, when asked if Mejia is the kind of undocumented immigrant who should be deported, stuck to the line that the mass roundups are "about upholding law and order." 
Suozzi shows sensitivity to the public mood. Back in January, he crossed party lines to vote for a $64 billion Department of Homeland Security funding bill including $10 billion for ICE. Suozzi soon expressed regret — and admitted his vote was a mistake in light of the agency's operations in Minnesota which included the fatal shooting&nbsp;of civilian Renee Good. 
LiPetri says&nbsp;Social Security benefits should not be taxable&nbsp;but that&nbsp;only would&nbsp;further drain Social Security's primary trust fund, which is&nbsp;approaching insolvency.&nbsp;Suozzi would make all salaried income subject to the Social Security tax to keep benefits secure. 
This&nbsp;American moment demands a break from go-along partisanship of the kind that only&nbsp;pampers Trump's&nbsp;institutionally destructive goals and&nbsp;projects. 
Given his experience, Suozzi is a valuable voice for the concerns of his "purple" district whether he will land in the majority or the minority. The next Congress must move quickly to address the nation's problems and Suozzi is primed to do so. 
Newsday Opinion endorses Suozzi. <a class="p-smartembed" data-attr-caption="A map of the 3rd Congressional District.
" data-attr-credit="" data-attr-f="3x2" data-attr-has-caption="true" data-attr-has-credit="true" data-attr-q="0.3" data-attr-w="400" data-onecms-id="contentid/5bb9c5ff-5fa3-4894-af00-047563511b52" data-onecms-type="image" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/5bb9c5ff-5fa3-4894-af00-047563511b52', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/5bb9c5ff-5fa3-4894-af00-047563511b52"><img src="/image-service/alias/contentid/5bb9c5ff-5fa3-4894-af00-047563511b52/CD3.jpg?f=3x2&amp;w=400&amp;q=0.3">A map of the 3rd Congressional District. </a>

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Thomas R. Suozzi for New York's 3rd Congressional District

Newsday Opinion endorses Suozzi for 3rd Congressional District

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AIAudio - Thomas R. Suozzi for New York's 3rd Congressional District

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The first bill Laura A. Gillen introduced in her freshman term in Congress sought to extend Temporary Protective Status for Haitian immigrants, including those she represents in Elmont and elsewhere in the 4th Congressional District. 
To move the bill forward, Gillen connected with fellow New Yorker Mike Lawler, a Republican representative whose district has a significant Haitian population and who became a co-sponsor, and Ayanna Presley, a Democrat who heads the House Haiti Caucus in Congress and who filed a discharge petition to force a floor vote. 
Gillen, a Rockville Centre Democrat, and her colleagues gathered the necessary signatures and brought the bill to a vote — and it passed with bipartisan support, a rare occurrence for a freshman minority member. 
It’s a story that illustrates the tenacity and resilience that Gillen, 57, brought to her first two years in the House — and the dysfunction of Congress as a whole, as the Senate never even took up the bill. 
Now, Gillen is seeking another term, hoping to continue and expand upon the work she started. She’s facing an intense challenge from Republican Jeanine C. Driscoll, 59, of Bellerose, who has served as the Town of Hempstead’s tax receiver since 2019. 
Even amid a complicated and partisan political landscape, Gillen, who previously served as Hempstead Town supervisor, has tried to make the most of her first two years in Congress. 
“I know what my job is,” Gillen said. “My job is to do the best that I can under the most challenging circumstances for my constituents.” 
Gillen understands those communities’ needs, from water infrastructure upgrades in the Village of Hempstead to long-sought renovations for the Lakeview Library. 
But she also has a deep, thoughtful understanding of the nation’s broader challenges, pointing to a variety of Trump administration policies that, she says, have done “so much damage,” from ending Affordable Care Act premium tax credits to immigration, to tariffs and the war in Iran. She provides a clear road map on how to undo that damage, which, she said, is key to lowering costs and improving lives in CD4. 
From her perch on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Gillen has focused on water quality improvements along the South Shore. But she also rightly shined a light on other Long Island interests, including the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, which falls under the Department of Transportation and requires significant campus upgrades, and the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control, or TRACON, in Westbury, which handles the region’s air traffic control and needs modern facilities and a return of staff who were previously moved to Philadelphia. 
Gillen’s work on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, meanwhile, showcases other interests. She authored legislation to establish regional quantum science hubs, and would like one on Long Island. And she introduced Tyler’s Law, which would direct already-appropriated funds to study youth suicide. She had Republicans on the bill, but still couldn’t move it forward — in part, she said, because leaders didn’t want to give a Democrat in a swing seat a win. 
Challenger Driscoll has a deep passion for her work, and a clear familiarity with the Town of Hempstead, which makes up 96% of the district she wants to represent. She spends much of her time doing seminars for town taxpayers, teaching them how to grieve and find exemptions. It’s important work, and she is well versed in it. But beyond that local world, Driscoll is less equipped. And while she said she’s willing to work across the aisle, when asked, Driscoll told the editorial board that she cannot think of anything President Donald Trump has said or done with which she disagrees. 
Driscoll, like Gillen, would like to see the SALT cap on state and local tax deductions lifted altogether — but that’s where the similarities end. Driscoll acknowledges that a better functioning immigration system for legal entry is needed but backs Trump’s border tightening and aggressive immigration enforcement policies. 
Driscoll said she supports the war in Iran and called tariffs “the price of doing business,” arguing that she hasn’t seen a negative impact on constituents: “I can’t identify a tariff that’s hurt me,” she said. 
Instead, she said, they are part of a larger Trump strategy she supports. 
“This is how he operates . . . ” she said. “I wouldn’t interfere with that.” 
Driscoll said she’d want to fight for infrastructure and road improvements in Elmont, and said she’d like to establish programs and policies that support young adults with autism and other special needs. However, when asked about House committees she might serve on, she hadn't seemed to have given it much thought, eventually mentioning&nbsp;Transportation and Infrastructure or Homeland Security as possibilities. And she had&nbsp;few new ideas for how Congress could address the district’s concerns. 
Gillen emphasizes that if Democrats win the majority, they’ll have to put policy over politics. She can bring a moderate voice with a bipartisan bent to the table, to move forward her more sweeping priorities in healthcare, immigration reform and affordability, and the more specific bills and funding asks that could intimately help her district. To succeed, Gillen will need to do both. 
Newsday Opinion endorses Gillen.

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Laura A. Gillen for New York's 4th Congressional District

Newsday Opinion endorses Gillen for 4th Congressional District

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Few New Yorkers may know who the state comptroller is or what he does. 
But every New Yorker depends upon the person in that job. 
If you’re a public employee, your pension lies in the state comptroller’s hands. If you’re a taxpayer, your town and village taxes are based in part on his work, as he sets those government employers’ pension contribution rates. If you have sought unclaimed funds, his office handles them. And if you deal with any public agency, the comptroller’s oversight and auditing functions are paramount. 
For nearly 20 years, those responsibilities have fallen to Democrat Thomas P. DiNapoli, who has successfully managed New York’s $310 billion pension fund with a steady hand and a thoughtful, careful mindset. As the sole trustee, DiNapoli, 72, of Great Neck, has focused on keeping it fully funded, with a solid albeit risk-averse long-term rate of return of nearly 6%; its most recent quarter was slightly higher. Even the existence of such quarterly data is thanks to DiNapoli. 
Contract evaluations and budget assessments are important, too, but DiNapoli highlights more unusual audits, such as the one his office did regarding the state’s insufficient efforts to address Black maternal healthcare. 
Republican Joseph Hernandez, 54, of Manhattan, has an American dream story. He fled Cuba during the Mariel Boatlift in 1980 and became a Wall Street investor and venture capitalist who founded multiple businesses. Hernandez seeks to increase state pension fund returns and pledges to add an in-house investment team to reduce fees. He points to other pension funds with better returns, but some are not as well funded. 
Hernandez suggests using $10 billion of the fund to expand efforts to invest in and attract new companies and jobs. The existing program now invests about $3 billion, according to DiNapoli. Hernandez promises to speak out regarding fiscal concerns and fraud. And he favors additional auditing efforts, but suggested only the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Medicaid and the state Education Department — areas the comptroller has long tackled. 
Hernandez is smart and successful, but it’s unwise to run a public pension system like a private investment, or to advocate getting government employers’ contributions to zero. 
But as DiNapoli heads into what would be his fifth full term, he should step outside the box he has established for himself, and more forcefully use his bully pulpit to call out state officials’ fiscally irresponsible decisions and risks from the marketplace and lawmaker actions. Expanding economic development investments and utilizing sophisticated AI tools to find problematic spending patterns to uncover fraud and waste are worth considering. DiNapoli rightly wants to audit more school districts and industrial development agencies; he should prioritize that. 
As state and local workers fight for pension sweeteners, remember that they haven’t had to worry about the health and stability of their pensions. That’s thanks to the stewardship of the current state comptroller. 
Newsday endorses DiNapoli.

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Thomas P. DiNapoli for New York State comptroller

Newsday Opinion endorses DiNapoli for New York State comptroller

AIAudio - Daniel P. Losquadro for Suffolk County comptroller


AIAudio - Daniel P. Losquadro for Suffolk County comptroller

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For the first time since 2015, Suffolk County will soon have a new chief financial officer and fiscal overseer. Current Comptroller John M. Kennedy Jr., a Republican, is term-limited after 12 years. 
Republican Daniel P. Losquadro, the Brookhaven Town highway superintendent, is running for county comptroller and being challenged by Democrat Jonathan D. Estreich, a private attorney and major in the Army Reserve. 
Losquadro has more municipal experience compared with Estreich, a former county prosecutor making his first run for office. But maintaining the good faith and credit of the county’s finances is more complex than plowing roads. The comptroller’s office will require Losquadro to act impartially in overseeing contracts, deny the county legislature superfluous budget requests, and leave politics at party headquarters. 
The office also requires fairness in auditing contracts, especially those the county’s more vulnerable populations rely on, like temporary housing, social services, and domestic violence and substance abuse services. 
Losquadro, 54, of Shoreham, said he paves roads in all of the town’s neighborhoods, regardless of the political party enrollment of the residents. Voters will need him to prove his independence by sniffing out possible fraud and corruption, whichever road it may lead down. 
The county’s $4.59 billion budget dwarfs the roughly $64 million Losquadro oversees. If elected, he will need to learn fast on the job, a hugely important position with oversight of contracts and investing. Municipal finances across the nation face rising budgetary pressures, on pensions, fuel and cybersecurity. Suffolk County is no exception. The next four years — the length of the comptroller’s term — will likely entail significant challenges, both foreseen and yet unknown. A steady, disciplined and principled leader is needed. 
Losquadro’s deep ties to Brookhaven’s Republican machine and Republican politics across the Island, however, raise eyebrows. His incredible fundraising prowess reveals his political acumen. But fundraising doesn’t equate to strict financial oversight and adherence to laws. Losquadro, if elected as the county’s top financial watchdog, will need to remain independent from donors, vendors and contractors seeking to influence the system. 
Estreich, 46, of Dix Hills, is an experienced prosecutor with good ideas, who brings an outsider’s perspective. But his financial oversight and management experience is limited. He deserves credit for refusing to bow to party leaders and choosing to remain in the comptroller’s race. He was initially named the Democratic Party candidate for the State Senate and later switched to run for comptroller. Then, Estreich says, party leaders tried to push him off the ballot behind the scenes, but he resisted. He is a principled man who should seek elective office in the future, perhaps starting at the local level to learn the ins and outs of the process. 
This office requires someone with financial expertise. Estreich’s relevant government experience is in investigating financial fraud. 
Newsday endorses Losquadro.

All of Newsday Opinion's 2026 election endorsements so far

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