Town of Brookhaven Supervisor Ed Romaine claimed victory Tuesday night with unofficial results giving the Republican a 25-percent advantage with nearly all districts reporting.
Romaine, who was elected to the seat last year in a special election, walked on stage to raucous cheers from his Republican supporters inside The Emporium in Patchogue.
Romaine thanked voters for “giving me a landslide victory for supervisor,” adding, “I am deeply humbled by it.”
“We are going to change this town,” Romaine yelled to the crowd.
Republican incumbents in Town of Smithtown, Patrick Vecchio and Sean Walter of the Town of Riverhead, were also re-elected, according to unofficial results.
Democratic supervisors, Rick Schaffer of the Town of Babylon and Anna Throne-Holst of the Town of Smithtown, were also re-elected.
Romaine was beating his Democratic challenger Vivian Viloria-Fisher 62 percent to 37 percent with all but four districts reporting.
The Republican supervisor overcame strong criticism for his handling of a blizzard in early February that dumped more than 30 inches on parts of Suffolk County. Romaine was on vacation when the blizzard hit.
Suffolk County Republican Committee Chairman John Jay LaValle predicted a big victory for Romaine before results started pouring in.
“I expect Ed Romaine to get more than 60 percent of the vote tonight,” he told the Press. “He’s going to blow out his opponent.”
“Obviously that was a tough start out of the gate,” LaValle said of the storm controversy. “But he’s a hard worker. Ed’s a guy that goes at it seven days a week.”
Two other Suffolk democratic incumbents who ran unnoposed, Town of East Hampton Supervisor Larry Cantwell and Town of Shelter Island Supervisor James Dougherty, were both re-elected.
