Nassau residents in the second county legislative district can vote for Democrat Olena Nicks or Republican Karin Campbell in a special election for an open legislative seat this month.
The election will be held on Feb. 25. Voters can find their Election Day polling place, which will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., on the Nassau County Board of Elections website. Early voting will run from Feb. 15 to Feb. 23, at the Nassau County Board of Elections in Mineola, the Yes We Can Center in Westbury, and Hofstra University in Hempstead.
Nassau’s second legislative district includes Carle Place, New Cassel, and Westbury, as well as parts of Hempstead, and Uniondale. The district is considered heavily Democratic.
The seat is open because its previous holder, Democrat Siela Bynoe was elected to the state senate in November. Bynoe held the seat since 2014.
The county’s Democratic Party nominated Uniondale resident Olena Nicks on Feb. 4 and the county’s Republican Party nominated Westbury resident Karin Campbell on Feb. 10 to compete in the contest.
Nicks cited her top priorities as increasing access to affordable housing and strong public schools, ensuring safety in the district by working with the police department, and fiscal responsibility in the Legislature. Campbell cited hers as increasing safety through a greater police presence, youth employment programs, and housing, noting homelessness as a concern.
Campbell has worked as a case manager for over 10 years with the Ammerman House, which provides transitional living for housing-insecure people. She said this work has made her aware of housing issues in the district and, if elected, she said she would want to work to ensure people have the resources they need to get off the streets into temporary or permanent living situations.
Prior to running, Nicks has served as a president and trustee of Uniondale’s public library and volunteered with the school district’s policy committee. She is also currently the treasurer of Uniondale’s community land trust, and co-president of the community council, which she has worked with for five years, as well as second lieutenant for Uniondale’s Fire Department, which she has worked with for 14 years.
Nicks said these past positions prepare her for this seat, as they have made her aware of what the district’s public services, like the fire departments, need, as well as provided her with practice working with budgets.
Nicks has run unsuccessfully for Hempstead’s Town Clerk seat in 2021 and for Town Supervisor in 2023.
“What I learned from those previous campaigns is that the issues really don’t change from communities to communities. We all want the same thing. People want to be able to put food on the table. They want to not have to worry about losing their homes or not having a place to stay, and they want safety,” Nicks said.
Nicks said she wanted to run for this seat because she believed it would allow her to continue carrying out the community work she has been doing for years.
“I currently work very closely with the Uniondale Community Land Trust and the Community Council, which focuses on housing,” she said. A lot of the concerns that Uniondale residents have, I noticed, had direct parallels between other communities within district two, and that was what pushed me to run.”
Campbell ran unsuccessfully for this seat in 2023. Previously, she has served as the president of Westbury School District, been a Cub Scout leader and substitute teacher, and worked for Amtrak and the LIRR.
“I’ve learned that most of the communities are divided,” Campbell said. She said she wanted to run for the seat to make sure she gets to address some of the things that keep the district from being one community. She said she saw religious, economic, social, cultural, and generational divisions.
“Like the predecessor, I would make sure that I’m having forums and workshops – Any opportunity to educate and inform the people,” Campbell said regarding how she would combat division.
She also expressed a desire to increase police patrols and their connection to the community in the district.
“We have to work with our police department and our local municipalities so that we protect our communities,” Campbell said. She said she believed a more regular police presence and people knowing more of their neighbors would increase safety and security. She added that she would want to ensure the district’s communities are not a place where people can “fly below the wire of law.”
Nicks said she sees the issue of safety as tied to that of homelessness, and feels it is connected to her priority of increasing affordable housing.
If elected, she plans to work with local nonprofits and the Department of Social Services to see what additional resources could be made available to those experiencing homelessness. She also plans to work with developers to increase affordable housing options in the district, stating she believes it’s important to increase options for those who want to rent and become homeowners.
Nicks is also passionate about strengthening the district’s public schools. To do this, she plans to ensure her office has budget space for youth internships and teaching about the legislature. She also plans to advocate against charter schools, which she said the community has consistently seen taking a large chunk of funding from public schools.
She also plans to continue programs Bynoe’s office ran, which she said include back-to-school giveaways, turkey giveaways, and others that ensure families are fed.
In terms of education, Campbell said one of her priorities would be to increase government-funded youth employment opportunities, as well as exposure to vocational and trade occupations for high school students.
Both expressed fiscal responsibility as a priority.
Nicks said she would work to ensure that when budget cuts happen, communities of color and underrepresented communities don’t suffer the consequences of those cuts disproportionately. Campbell said she would look to prevent tax increases, stating that understanding if there was a way for tax dollars to be better spent would be one of her first initiatives.
When on Westbury’s school board, Campbell contested the results of a school board election in 2018. When asked what she would say to voters concerned or wondering about this, she said, “When people make an appeal or challenge something and the ruling is not in your favor, it gives the perception that you were wrong. But sometimes it’s just that the ruling is not in your favor. It does not necessarily mean that you were wrong.”
Though this legislative district went through a redistricting process in January, this special election will still be held in what is the current district. In November, when the seat’s natural election cycle is up, the election will be held in the newly drawn district.
