The Suffolk County Republican Committee has nominated Manny Vilar of Springs, a retired state parks police officer who is the chairman of the East Hampton Town Republican Committee, to run for the Second Legislative District seat on the November ballot.
Legislator Bridget Fleming, a four-term Democrat who currently holds that seat but is not term-limited, announced last week she will not seek re-election, creating an open-seat situation.
In response to receiving his party's nomination, Mr. Vilar said in an interview that he is "appreciative, with tremendous gratitude, that they've recognized the value in the years of experience that I bring to the legislative process."
"We have a lot of tremendous issues on the East End of Long Island that are going to take a lot of advocacy and some different thinking. . . . I believe that the economic solvency of the county starts with eastern Long Island," he said.
Mr. Vilar has been his party's East Hampton chairman since December of 2018. He ran unsuccessfully for the town supervisor's seat in 2017 and lost a bid for a town board seat in a special election one year later. Speaking on Tuesday from Albany, where he was lobbying on a health care matter of importance to public employees, Mr. Vilar said he's ready to roll up his sleeves and get started on his campaign.
His opponent will be Ann Welker, a Southampton Town trustee who has been nominated by the county Democrats for the legislature. It's likely Ms. Welker may find the need to focus on building name recognition in East Hampton Town, while Mr. Vilar may need to do the same in Southampton Town.
"This is for me, this is not a campaign of political parties," he said. "This is a campaign of community. . . . We need to address the issues."
