Election 2024

Endorsements have been rolling in for both sides in the race for New York State’s First Assembly District seat, in which Stephen Kiely, a Republican and Conservative candidate, and Tommy John Schiavoni, a Democratic and Working Families candidate, are vying to succeed Fred W. Thiele Jr.

Artificial intelligence and deep-fake internet content have become huge talking points in this year’s race to the White House, and the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island, and the North Fork is doing its part to counter them.

Bringing out young voters 18 to 25 had been critical to President Biden’s win in 2020. Since his surprise announcement that he would not run again this year, many young Democratic-leaning voters have, according to pollsters, felt more energized — including those right here on the South Fork.

After a public hearing two weeks ago on removing the nature preserve designation from the triangle at the intersection of Springs-Fireplace and Three Mile Harbor Roads in East Hampton, the town board is set to vote Thursday evening on a resolution concerning the future of the property.

The "cup count," now a popular community attraction at the Monogram Shop in East Hampton, has accurately predicted four out of five winners of presidential races since its inception in 2004.

Tommy John Schiavoni of North Haven, who is running on the Democratic ticket for New York State Assembly, picked up a big endorsement last week when Senator Chuck Schumer announced his support for the Southampton Town councilman’s candidacy. 

Former President Donald Trump will be traveling to Bridgehampton Friday afternoon, and Southampton Town has warned of extensive road closures and heavy gridlock as his motorcade makes its way from Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach to Bridgehampton.

In the hours and days following President Biden’s announcements on Sunday afternoon that he was ending his bid for re-election and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, Democrats here on Long Island and across the country have begun to largely coalesce behind Vice President Harris as they react to this political earthquake.

Former President Donald J. Trump was shot at a rally in Butler, Pa., early Saturday evening. Shortly after the shooting, Representative Nick LaLota, a Republican who in January endorsed President Trump, and his opponent in the First Congressional District race, John Avlon, a Democrat, released statements.

On Saturday, two days after President Biden and former President Trump met in Atlanta for the first presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle, the president and Jill Biden were in East Hampton for a fund-raiser at the home of Barry and Lizanne Rosenstein, co-hosted by several high-powered business executives and celebrities, all the while hearing calls from prominent members of the Democratic Party to step aside and let someone else lead the ticket.

With his Tuesday primary victory in New York’s First Congressional District, John Avlon of Sag Harbor will now face first-term Republican Representative Nick LaLota in the November election.

John Avlon, who quickly rose to the top in a field of Democratic congressional contenders that numbered half a dozen just a few months ago, is the winner of Tuesday's primary in New York's First Congressional District, besting the second-time candidate Nancy Goroff.

Ahead of early voting for the Democratic primary election in the First Congressional District, a debate between John Avlon and Nancy Goroff covered many topics in only an hour, ranging from climate change, to social media, to gun violence and antisemitism. It was a polite affair in which the candidates often agreed with each other and didn’t engage in crosstalk.

East Hampton Town Councilman Ian Calder-Piedmonte, a Democrat appointed to the post in January, faces a challenge from Hy Mariampolski, a first-time candidate running for the Republicans. The winner will fill out the remaining one year of the term vacated by Kathee Burke-Gonzalez when she became supervisor in January.

Tuesday at 5 p.m. marked the cutoff for the submission of petitions to get on the ballot for the June elections in East Hampton Village, and with no one other than Mayor Jerry Larsen, Deputy Mayor Christopher Minardi, and Sandra Melendez, a village board member, submitting a petition, the incumbents will run unopposed. 

In his bid for the Democratic nomination for New York’s First Congressional District, John Avlon of Sag Harbor this week picked up the endorsement of the New York State Democratic Committee chairman, Jay Jacobs, and of all five members of the East Hampton Town Board.

The New York State presidential primary election is on Tuesday. Early voting continues through Saturday, March 30.

The Shelter Island Democratic Committee has endorsed John Avlon’s campaign to represent New York’s First Congressional District. The endorsement is Mr. Avlon’s third from a town Democratic committee, following those from East Hampton and Southampton.

Emily’s List, which works to elect Democratic pro-choice women, has endorsed the candidacy of Nancy Goroff in New York’s First Congressional District. 

Three weeks after announcing his candidacy to represent New York’s First Congressional District, the author, columnist, and former CNN anchor John Avlon formally launched his campaign at the World War II memorial in Sag Harbor’s Marine Park on Saturday, promising supporters that the race to unseat Representative Nick LaLota is winnable. 

Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., who recently announced he will not be seeking re-election for the New York State Assembly seat he has held for more than 28 years, has endorsed Tommy John Schiavoni, the Southampton Town councilman from North Haven, to fill that seat.

Nancy Goroff and John Avlon, candidates for the Democratic Party’s nomination to challenge Representative Nick LaLota in New York’s First Congressional District, signaled unity in their belief that Mr. LaLota can be defeated in the Nov. 5 election during a candidates forum hosted by the East Hampton Town Democratic Committee.

“The first time as tragedy, the second time as farce” may be an apt description of a recent development in the race to represent New York’s First Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives, where former Representative George Santos of New York, who was expelled from the House in December, has announced that he will challenge first-term Representative Nick LaLota for the Republican nomination.

New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. has endorsed the candidacy of John Avlon in New York’s First Congressional District, adding to Mr. Avlon’s tally of endorsements since entering the race to challenge Representative Nick LaLota three weeks ago.

John Avlon, the author, columnist, and former CNN anchor who announced his candidacy in New York's First Congression District on Feb. 21, will appear at LTV in Wainscott Monday with Nancy Goroff, the Democrats’ 2020 nominee, who is running again this year.

Although his nomination is still considered unofficial until petitions are formally filed on April 16, Stephen Kiely has been named as the Suffolk County Republican Committee’s candidate to run for the New York State Assembly seat now held by Fred W. Thiele Jr., a Democrat who is retiring after a long career in politics.

Representative Nick LaLota of New York’s First Congressional District came out swinging at a prospective opponent in his first re-election bid in November, referring to the former CNN anchor John Avlon as “a Manhattan elitist attempting to parachute into Suffolk County to try to buy a congressional seat.”

Since John Avlon announced his candidacy, the field of Democrats hoping to challenge Representative Nick LaLota in November has shrunk to four, and one of the two who suspended his campaign has endorsed Mr. Avlon.

There was no big announcement, or surprise, only a letter to residents of East Hampton Village, circulated by Mayor Jerry Larsen along with an absentee ballot application, indicating he will be on the ballot for the June 18 village election. Deputy Mayor Christopher Minardi and Sandra Melendez, a trustee, will also run for re-election.

New York State Senator Anthony Palumbo, who has represented the First Senatorial District since 2021, announced on Jan. 31 that he will seek a third term. He has at least one challenger: On Monday, former Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker announced her candidacy for the Democratic Party’s nomination for Mr. Palumbo’s seat.