Election 2019

By a lead of just 27 votes, East Hampton Town Justice Lisa R. Rana prevailed in her re-election campaign, defeating her Democratic challenger, Andrew Strong, to win a fifth four-year term on the bench.

East Hampton Town Justice Lisa R. Rana has apparently prevailed in her re-election campaign, narrowly defeating her Democratic challenger, Andrew Strong. 

“The political scene in East Hampton is in a changing mode, a state of flux,” Kyle Vorpahl, secretary of the East Hampton Town Republican Committee, said yesterday. “Everyone involved is perhaps considering their public stance and personal convictions.”

Incumbent Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone emerged the clear winner Tuesday in the race for the leadership role in the County Legislature. Bridget Fleming, the incumbent legislator who represents the South Fork and Shelter Island, was also re-elected, while Andrea Harum Schiavoni of North Haven was elected to a county judgeship.

Jay Schneiderman won a third term as the Southampton Town Supervisor, fending off two challengers, and while only one of his running mates won election, the supervisor will continue to enjoy a Democratic majority on the town board. 

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.

Find your polling place. And information about early voting in East Hampton and Southampton Towns.

In addition to a three-way race for supervisor, voters in Southampton Town have five choices for two seats on the town board.

There are two seats open on the Suffolk County Family Court bench, with four candidates, including Andrea Harum Schiavoni, a sitting Southampton Town justice and North Haven resident, and Michael P. Sendlenski, a former East Hampton Town attorney.

County Executive Steve Bellone, a Democrat, is facing a re-election challenge this year from John Kennedy, the Republican county comptroller.

The four candidates vying for two seats on the East Hampton Town Board faced off for the last time on Oct. 16 at the East Hampton Library, the two incumbents defending their tenure and setting goals for the next term, the two challengers criticizing the same while offering their own vision for town government.

Public schools in East Hampton, Bridgehampton, Sag Harbor, Montauk, Sagaponack, Springs, and Wainscott will be closed for students on Tuesday. Classes will be in session at the Amagansett School. Some districts will hold superintendent conferences for faculty and staff that day, and the East Hampton School Board will still hold its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the district office conference room.

Betsy Bambrick, a Conservative and Libertarian candidate for East Hampton Town Board in the forthcoming election, has an active complaint with the New York State Commission on Human Rights alleging mistreatment, age discrimination, and a hostile work environment during her final years as head of the town’s Ordinance Enforcement Division.

Linda Kabot, a Republican and former Southampton Town supervisor, is hoping to make a political comeback by unseating Democratic Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming, who has represented residents of the Second Legislative District, from Montauk to Moriches plus Shelter Island, for four years.

There are nine trustees, each elected every two years to a two-year term. Seven of the nine incumbents are seeking re-election this year. Including those seven, there are 16 candidates on the ballot.

The East Hampton Town Republican Committee is hosting a Countdown to Election Day fund-raiser tonight from 6 to 9 at the Bel Mare restaurant at 28 Maidstone Park Road in Springs.

Though his name does not appear anywhere on the EH Fusion Party ballot line, David Gruber, a former Democratic Committee chairman running for East Hampton Town supervisor, is by far the splinter group’s largest supporter.

The candidates for East Hampton Town supervisor and seats on the town board squared off at the East Hampton Library on Oct. 16 in their final debate before the Nov. 5 election, this one sponsored by the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons.

Voters in Southampton Town have a three-way race for supervisor ahead, with Greg Robins, a Republican, and Alex Gregor, the town highway superintendent, who is running on the Independence and Libertarian lines, vying for Jay Schneiderman's job.

David Talmage, a candidate for East Hampton Town trustee, has invited the public to meet him and his fellow candidates of the EH Fusion Party on Sunday from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Talmage homestead, 869 Springs-Fireplace Road in Springs. “Clams, chowder, chili, chatter, and cheer” will be served, according to a campaign flier.

“What you see is what you get,” is how Bonnie Brady, a longtime Montauk resident and EH Fusion Party candidate for East Hampton Town Board, described herself in an interview with Star staff this week. “I’d like to think of myself as a fair, honest person, someone who would work their butt off” for constituents.

Politics makes strange bedfellows, and in East Hampton, this year there may be no stranger political couple than East Hampton Town Justice Lisa R. Rana, a lifelong Republican, and David Gruber, a Democrat who is running for town supervisor but not on the Democratic line.

New York likes to think it is first in almost everything, but in adopting an early voting procedure, it ranks 38th among the states. Better late than never, as the cliché goes; however, early voting will be allowed this year for the first time.

If she is elected to the East Hampton Town Board, Elizabeth Bambrick said last week, it will be “because people want me to change things.”

With less than a month to go before Election Day, East Hampton voters have some difficult choices to make. The toughest among them, however, might be on the town trustees portion of the ballot. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: It’s high time the venerable elected body with nine members adopted staggered terms.

The first debate between candidates for East Hampton Town supervisor and town board — at the East Hampton Library on Saturday — was a mostly civil discussion, the three incumbent Democrats fending off criticism from their challengers while making a case for their own re-election.

The League of Women Voters of the Hamptons has invited the public to three candidate debates it will host this month for town and county elected offices.

The East Hampton Group for Good Government, a nonpartisan organization that promotes awareness of local issues through public discussions of ideas, will host a first debate between candidates for East Hampton Town supervisor and town board on Saturday at 4 p.m. at the East Hampton Library.

For those who remember David Gruber’s early involvement in East Hampton politics, his alliance this election year with the local Republican Party might seem an unlikely pairing.

Tuesday is National Voter Registration Day, and the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons will use the opportunity to explain to people across the South Fork where, when, and how to register for the Nov. 5 election.