Long Island House race offers competitive rematch as GOP looks to capitalize on recent victories
A Long Island congressional race considered one of the closest in the state may have ramifications beyond November – as local Democrats and Republicans duke it out for a message win.
The rematch election battle between first-term Republican Anthony D’Esposito and Democrat Laura Gillen is an opportunity for Dems to get their mojo back on the island after getting trounced in three election cycles — while the GOP is looking for a victory that would prove the area is becoming reliably red.
Democrats — who took some bruising in the area in recent years due to backlash over the state legislature’s liberal criminal justice reforms — are hoping this go-round that Gillen can unseat D’Esposito in the 4th district just two years after he beat her by more than 10,000 votes.
In the rematch D’Esposito is up by 6 percentage points, leading 48% to 42% in the district, which borders New York City, according to an internal campaign poll conducted by McLaughlin Associates in mid-August.
“Laura Gillen has been rejected twice. She will be rejected a third time,” D’Esposito said of his opponent, who lost her own re-election bid in 2019 after she was the first Democrat to hold the seat in a century.
Gillen said she’s campaigning as an “independent,” pro-safety Democrat who condemned a state law that blocked judges from setting cash bail for numerous crimes. She also said she backs tougher border security.
“We need to seal our border. [D’Esposito] failed to get this done,” she said.
The congressman said he supports policies to deport migrants who entered the country illegally, especially those committing crimes — and he bashed Gillen for her support for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris who he called “the two people who created the disaster at the border.”
Gillen is following a similar playbook as some other Democrats in this year’s elections, saying she’ll protect abortion rights in the first election since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. She has criticized her opponent for allegedly shifting on the issue.
“I have consistently been an advocate for reproductive rights,” she said.
D’Esposito countered, “I would never support a nationwide abortion ban. I never have and never will.”
He said he supports in-vitro fertilization and called Gillen’s abortion push as “her whole campaign.”
The 4th District includes portions of Nassau County on the border with Queens, including Hempstead, Valley Stream, Uniondale and Freeport. Some 40% of the district’s voters are registered Democrats, with 30% registered Republicans and 30% registered independents.
Jewish residents account for 20% of the electorate, including a growing number of orthodox residents in the 5 towns that are voting Republican, according to analyses.
With the presidential race at the top of the ticket some insiders say Democratic nominee Harris is a “wild card” if she has strong support against GOP candidate Donald Trump from the sizable black population in the district.
D’Esposito’s internal poll showed Trump and Harris tied at 46% while independent Robert Kennedy Jr. — who has since dropped out of the race — had 5%.
President Biden carried the district over Trump 55% to 45% in 2020 but trailed Trump by 7-percentage points in a previous internal campaign poll in June. Harris has closed that gap since Biden dropped out of the race, the poll showed.