Two Vie for Bender’s Seat

The time has arrived for Southampton Town voters to select a new member of the town board, and make it whole again after the abrupt departure of Brad Bender, who resigned amid drug charges in late November.

Richard W. Yastrzemski, a Republican, and Julie Lofstad, a Democrat, are vying for the seat in Tuesday’s special election. The outcome will determine whether the town’s new supervisor, Jay Schneiderman, will hold a political majority. As it stands, the board is split 2-2.

Both candidates ran unsuccessfully in the most recent regular election. Mr. Yastrzemski lost the supervisor’s seat to Mr. Schneiderman, who took office earlier this month, and Ms. Lofstad came in third for the two open seats on the town board. Mr. Bender had two years left on his four-year term.

Mr. Yastrzemski has served on the Southampton Village Board since 2008 and is the village’s deputy mayor. A professional financial planner and advisor with 30 years’ experience, he is a senior vice president with Rocco A. Carriero Wealth Partners in Southampton. He is a member of the Southampton Elks Lodge and volunteers with Boy Scout Troop 58.

Ms. Lofstad, a Hampton Bays resident, has run a commercial fishing business with her husband for the past 15 years. She had worked for 15 years before that in aeronautical services, designing runway and taxiway lighting systems for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and managed a multimillion-dollar grant program funding projects for the Port Authority. She is a co-founder of the Hampton Bays Mothers Association, a not-for-profit that raised money to build new parks, among other projects.

Voters can cast their ballots at their regular polling places between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Tuesday.