After a re-match election, Democratic challenger Laura Gillen narrowly defeated Rep. Anthony D’Esposito with a 1.5% difference in votes for the new representative of New York’s 4th Congressional District amidst a red wave led by Donald Trump nationally, who won Nassau County by nearly 5 percentage points.
“We put out together a campaign – a winning campaign – that we will emulate in the years to come,” Gillen said.
Gillen received 182,771 votes, 48.69%, while D’Esposito received 176,623 votes, 47.05%.
National attention was drawn to Long Island as its congressional races were determined to be key in deciding which party would assume control over the House of Representatives.
Gillen’s win brought the national Democratic Party closer to securing the House, which has been controlled by Republicans for the past two years. As of Tuesday night, Republicans led in the House but too many seats remained unknown for a controlling party to be decided.
In Nassau County, both Democratic candidates – Gillen and 3rd District’s Rep. Tom Suozzi – were elected to the House.
“It’s time to get Congress back to work again for everyday people,” Gillen said. “It’s time to stop pointing fingers and start getting the work done and reaching across the aisle and solving the problems that we need solved.”
The two 4th District candidates faced one another two years ago, when D’Esposito defeated Gillen by 51.8% to 48.2% in 2022. Since then, the Republican party held the House majority by eight members.
D’Esposito will end his two-year, and only, term at the end of the year.
“We knew this was going to be a tough race,” D’Esposito said before all votes were reported. “We are ready to go to the mat and I am hopeful that as soon as we get the results there will continue to be a Republican representing the 4th Cngressional District.
GIllen attributed her success to her and her campaign’s efforts, including knocking on more than 300,000 doors
Gillen was the Town of Hempstead Supervisor from 2018 to 2020. As supervisor, she said she led efforts to revitalize the town’s infrastructure, sued to recover damages for contaminants in the public water supply and passed legislation relating to sexual harassment and veterans’ benefits.
Gillen said the top three issues she will focus on are border security, the cost of living crisis, and abortion rights.
Gillen said she will stand strong against anti-abortion extremism. She said she will push to reinstate the protections of Roe v. Wade, pass the Women’s Health Protection Act and codify the right to contraception and IVF.
Communities in the 4th Congressional District include Floral Park, parts of New Hyde Park, Elmont, Baldwin, Bellmore, East Rockaway, East Meadow, Five Towns, Lynbrook, Franklin Square, Garden City, parts of Garden City Park, Hempstead, Atlantic Beach, Long Beach, Malverne, Freeport, Merrick, Oceanside, Rockville Centre, Roosevelt, Seaford, Uniondale, Valley Stream, Wantagh and West Hempstead.
