Election Results

Goetz Defeats Lafazan

GOP Takes NHemp - First Time in 35 Years

Fake "Anti-Semitism" Dems All Lose

Huntington Gets 5-0 GOP Board

Romaine Wins Suffolk County Executive

By Niall Fitzgerald

The Republicans had a excellent election night across the north shore, with the GOP taking control of North Hempstead for the first time in 35 years; the two Republican candidates in Huntington, Brooke Lupinacci and Theresa Mari, narrowly winning their races to make the Huntington Town Board a 5-0 Republican Board; Mayor Pam Panzenbeck and her team winning re-election in Glen Cove; Legislator Stephanie Bontempi and Samantha Goetz winning their races for the Suffolk and Nassau Legislatures; and Ed Romaine winning Suffolk County Executive - the first Republican win for Suffolk County Executive in 24 years.

In Oyster Bay, Supervisor Joe Saladino won 69% of the vote to lead his entire Republican team to convincing - huge - victories.

The key races in North Hempstead were for Supervisor, where first term Supervisor Jen DeSena handily defeated former Democratic Supervisor Jon Kaiman, by 55% to 44%; for Receiver of Taxes where Republican Mary Jo Collins defeated TNH Councilwoman Veronica "Lurvey-mander" Lurvey by 54% to 45%; and in the Town Board race in Alberston, where local businessman and civic leader Edward Scott defeated incumbent Democrat Peter Zuckerman by a razor-thin 87 votes, to swing the Town Board majority to 4-3 Republican.

One of the biggest upsets of the evening was the defeat of aging "boy politician" Nassau Legislator Joshua Lafazan (D-Syosset), who was thoroughly repudiated by a massive 58% to 42% loss to a first-time candidate, local attorney and mom Samantha Goetz of Locust Valley.

Lafazan first took office as a teenager over a decade ago, first on the Syosset School Board and then as County Legislator. But a series of eye-popping scams and scandals have plagued Lafazan, who cultivated the image as a "boy politician," but then courted criminals like Samuel Bankman-Fried - from whom Lafazan took $725,000 in stolen funds.

Most notable was the defeat of all three north shore Democrats - Jon Kaiman, Joshua Lafazan and Eve Meltzer-Krief - who falsely and disgracefully charged their Republican rivals with "Antisemitism" for regular campaign mail pieces. This came just weeks after the horrific Hamas attack on Israel - where 1400 innocent Jews were murdered and Antisemitic riots wracked New York and other US cities.

Even worse, one of the Democrats - Eve Meltzer-Krief - had long worked with radical left organizations supporting Hamas - and she attacked Suffolk Legislator Stephanie Bontempi, who is strongly pro-Israel and is herself of partly Jewish descent. The specter of a left-wing activist who marches with pro-Hamas organizations denouncing a partly-Jewish pro-Israel Republican on fake charges of "Antisemitism," was denounced by local leaders as a "disgrace." The voters agreed, giving Bontempi a solid 53% to 47% win.

In Huntington, Republicans Brooke Lupinacci and Theresa Mari won a close race for Town Board, giving the Republicans a 5-0 majority. Mari outpolled the leading Democrat, Jen Hebert, by only 240 votes. Democrat Don McKay - who was denounced by the Leader for his crude attacks on women, minorities, veterans and his divisive racial remarks - lost badly, trailing by over 1,000 votes.

And in the biggest win of the night, Brookhaven Supervisor Ed Romaine defeated Democrat Dave Calone by 58% to 42% - to be the first Republican in 24 years to win election as Suffolk County Executive.