Democrats Carry the Day in East Hampton

The composition of the East Hampton Town Board will be unchanged for at least two more years, as Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc, Councilwoman Sylvia Overby, and Councilman David Lys cruised to re-election. Trustee candidates on the Democratic ticket swept that race to win all nine spots on the board of trustees. The race for town justice, which pit the incumbent Republican Lisa R. Rana against Andrew Strong, a first-time challenger, was too close to call, although Ms. Rana held a slight lead.

David Gruber, left, pondered the election results at Bel Mare in Springs with Manny Vilar, chairman of the East Hampton Town Republican Committee, and Rona Klopman, a trustee candidate.
*Christine Sampson*

By 10:30, with 11 of 19 election districts reporting, Democrats felt comfortable enough with their resounding leads to declare victory in the supervisor, town board, and trustee races. Mr. Van Scoyoc led his challenger, David Gruber, running on the Libertarian and Independence Party lines, with nearly 74 percent of the vote. Ms. Overby and Mr. Lys, held comfortable leads over their challengers Betsy Bambrick and Bonnie Brady, who were united with Mr. Gruber under the EH Fusion ticket but running on the Independence, Libertarian, and Conservative lines.

With their victory, Democrats retain a 5-0 supermajority on the town board.

The Democratic candidate for town justice, Andrew Strong, left, watched election returns with Chris Kelley, a Democratic committeeman.
*Doug Kuntz*

Cate Rogers, chairwoman of the East Hampton Town Democratic Committee, announced preliminary results to the crowd of supporters at Rowdy Hall in East Hampton at 10:25 p.m.

At that point, in the race for town justice Mr. Strong led by just 38 votes. "We'll have to wait and see," Ms. Rana said at a gathering of Republican and Fusion Party supporters at the Bel Mare restaurant in Springs. "I knew it was going to be a hard-fought race," she said. "I am nervous, but I also believe in the democratic process. If they choose me I’ll be honored to serve another four years. If they choose my opponent I will try to assist him in making the transition as smooth as possible."

Lisa Rana, second from left, with her cousin John Dunning, mother, Virginia Rana, and Doreen DiSunno. *Christine Sampson*

By the time all 19 districts had reported, unofficial results gave Ms. Rana a slim 116-vote lead. Absentee ballots are not included in the results posted by the board of elections on Tuesday.

At Rowdy Hall on Tuesday night, a cautious optimism quickly gave way to jubilation as the Suffolk County Board of Elections posted unofficial results to its website showing the Democrats incumbents comfortably ahead of their challengers.

Mr. Van Scoyoc then thanked his supporters, staff, and colleagues on the town board. “It’s truly humbling to be in this position,” he said, “and I think it’s affirmation and validation of the efforts we’ve made as a board together. We have a lot of work left to do. We need to get on with it, we need to move forward with renewable energy, we need to build a new senior center, we need to move forward to buying property and building affordable housing in this town and we will need all of you there to get through those efforts.”

“We’re not done” the supervisor said, looking toward his second term. “We’re just getting started. Round 2.”

Among those elected to the town trustees were, from left, Susan McGraw-Keber, Mike Martinsen, Francis Bock, Tim Garneau, Jim Grimes, and Ben Dollinger.
*Doug Kuntz*

In the trustee race, the incumbents Jim Grimes, Rick Drew, Francis Bock, Susan McGraw-Keber, Bill Taylor, and John Aldred, all endorsed by the Democrats, were re-elected and the necomers Mike Martinsen, Tim Garneau, and Ben Dollinger will also join the board.

With Reporting By Christine Sampson