Nassau County proved yet again to be a Republican stronghold as a majority of its elected seats were secured by Republican candidates this past election night, including the presidency for the first time in nearly 40 years. But the county is mainly represented by two House members, and both those seats were filled with Democrats that same night.
Rep. Tom Suozzi, one of the Democratic House members elected to represent northern parts of Nassau County who flipped the seat back to blue in the February special election, attributed his win in spite of the red shift to his campaign’s messaging: pushing common sense issues, focusing on core Democratic values and rejecting far-left “distractions.”
He attributed the Nassau County Democrats’ wins to their distancing from the liberal positions of the national Democratic Party.
“In this election, Americans have made their voice clear: Democrats need to focus more on issues Americans care about, like wages and benefits, and less on being politically correct,” Suozzi wrote on social media. “Moderate White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, union, non-union, and other voters fear that the world we live in and the values we live by are under threat, and Democrats have been too intimidated to speak up for the same values that many of us hold dear — the American Dream, public safety and a common sense of right and wrong among them.”
Suozzi said this was also a testament to his win in February, where he faced off against Republican Nassau County District 10 Legislator Mazi Pilip. Both went head-to-head on immigration issues with their campaigns amid a rising number of migrants coming into the state.
Suozzi said he came out victorious as his immigration message focused on tackling it vs. ignoring it. He said many in his party advised him to do this.
“As Democrats, we must be able to have these conversations without being intimidated by the extremists,” Suozzi said. “We must meet Americans where they are instead of lecturing them with condescension, or we will continue to lose elections.”
Luara Gillen, the other Democratic elected by Nassau County to New York’s 4th Congressional District, also stressed an emphasis on common sense and bipartisan solutions, straddling the same moderate line Suozzi is known for.
“I am humbled and grateful to have the privilege of serving the people of New York’s 4th Congressional District. Voters chose our message of common sense and common ground, and that is exactly the approach I will bring to Washington,” Gillen said in a statement. “As town supervisor, I reached across the aisle to lower costs for Nassau County families, and in Congress I will work in a bipartisan manner to deliver on the pressing issues we face.”
New York State’s Second Congressional District is the third House seat included in Nassau County, but only encompasses a small portion of Oyster Bay and East Massapequa. This seat was overwhelmingly secured by the Republican incumbent Rep. Andrew Garbarino, who received 70.71% of the votes in Nassau.
But the Democratic House wins in Nassau were the outliers on election night.
Trump won in Nassau County with more than a 4% lead over Vice President Kamala Harris. This Republican win was reflected throughout the party’s dominance in 14 of the other 23 Senate, House, state Senate and state Assembly races in the county’s elections.
In Nassau County, Democrats won nine of these 24 seats.
While Trump prevailed with a 5% lead, Democrats Suozzi won with a 1% lead in Nassau County and Gillen nearly a 2.5% lead.
Trump’s win shows a shift among Nassau voters who have not elected a Republican to the nation’s top seat since 1988, secured through the flipping of multiple Democratic bastions in the county.
This included the City of Glen Cove, Manhasset and Great Neck.
Of Nassau’s cities and towns, Harris only won in the City of Long Beach.
Margins were narrow in many of the Nassau towns and cities, including a 0.9% lead in North Hempstead, a 0.4% lead in Hempstead and a 1.3% lead in Glen Cove. But some were larger, such as in Oyster Bay where Trump won by 8 points.
Great Neck, once a Democratic stronghold, has shifted red in recent elections, including in the 2020 general election. Now the region is a strong ruby red, only getting blue in the southern areas surrounding Northern Boulevard like Great Neck Plaza and south in Lake Success.
The only other regions in Nassau County that predominantly voted blue were Port Washington, parts of Roslyn, New Cassel, Jericho, Sea Cliff, Glen Cove, Plainview, the Town of Hempstead areas of Valley Stream, Uniondale, Roosevelt, Freeport and Baldwin.
