The Suffolk County Republican Party has endorsed Nick LaLota, chief of staff of the County Legislature’s presiding officer and a former commissioner at the Suffolk Board of Elections, as its nominee to represent New York’s First Congressional District in Washington, D.C. The move, coming right on the heels of Mr. LaLota’s announcing his candidacy, drew a rebuke from another contestant for the seat.
The First District has been represented by Lee Zeldin, a Republican, since his election in 2014. Mr. Zeldin was recently named the Republican and Conservative Party’s designee for governor of New York.
Mr. LaLota was appointed to the Amityville Village Board in 2013, successfully running for election the following year and re-election in 2015. He also served as the village’s budget officer. He lives in Amityville, outside of the First Congressional District, but said that he will move into the district before the Nov. 8 election.
He joins the race well after two other candidates for their party’s nomination, Robert Cornicelli and Anthony Figliola. Mr. Cornicelli was critical of the county Republicans’ chairman, Jesse Garcia, following the party’s endorsement of Mr. LaLota.
“The county chairman put out guidance over the summer that said that no individual would be considered for the party nomination unless they attended all four Republican candidate screenings. I am the only candidate who attended all four — Nick did not go to a single one,” he said.
“The chairman’s decision to endorse LaLota’s candidacy is a slap in the face to every committee person who took the time out of their busy schedules to attend those screenings, listen to the candidates speak, and fill out candidate rating forms,” Mr. Cornicelli added. “The decision to ignore the wishes of these duly elected committee people shows me that the local party leaders do not care about the will of the people.”
