Nick LaLota Declared Winner Of NY 1st District Congressional Race

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY: Nick LaLota was declared the winner over Bridget Fleming in the race for the 1st Congressional District seat early Wednesday.

AP declared LaLota the winner just after 1 a.m.

According to unofficial results by the Suffolk County Board of Elections, LaLota was in the lead with 158,388 votes, compared to Fleming's 127,825 with 63 districts still to be reported.

A delayed Suffolk County count led to a longer wait for Fleming (D-Noyac) and LaLota (R-Amityville) who faced off in a race for the 1st Congressional seat currently held by Rep. Lee Zeldin.

As of midnight Wednesday, Suffolk County Board of Elections workers had difficulty loading memory cards needed to tally the vote, officials said, and reports have gauged the wait time anywhere from hours to Wednesday night. All the 1,400 memory cards from each voting machine needs to brought back to the BOE’s Yaphank headquarters and then uploaded to indicate an accurate count.

Fleming's campaign team released a statement saying the votes would need to be manually counted, which "would take some time."

Fleming ran unopposed for the congressional seat.

After Nick LaLota won a Tuesday GOP primary he and Democratic candidate Bridget Fleming spoke out on the race ahead.

A release from LaLota's campaign stated that "facing $3.3 million in outside spending from crypto-funded dark money PACs, LaLota overcame the deficit with grassroots energy, and a message laser-focused on combating inflation, expanding American energy production, and reducing taxes."

LaLota reflected on his win during his victory speech: "Here on Long Island, we know a thing or two about fights. We also know how expensive it can be to make ends meet here. Far too often, Long Island gets the short end of the stick in Washington. For every dollar in taxpayer revenue we send to DC we only get 93 cents back. I’ll fight to change that. In Congress, I will put Long Island first. I’ll back our police, restore the SALT Cap deduction, and fight tooth and nail to stop the Biden administration’s inflationary agenda that has made life here borderline unaffordable. Let’s put Long Island First."

He also set the stage for a heated campaign season: "My opponent Democrat Bridget Fleming has supported the Biden-Pelosi agenda, lock, stock, and barrel. Our contrast could not be clearer. I want to get inflation under control, reverse Biden’s tax hike, fire his IRS army, and back our police. Bridget Fleming supported the so-called Inflation Reduction Act that will raise your taxes at the worst possible time. She is just another career politician who has never met a tax increase that she didn’t like. She’ll be another rubber stamp for the Radical-left in Congress, and this November we must defeat her.”

Fleming, an incumbent Suffolk County legislator who also served as a Southampton Town councilwoman, also spoke out:

“Voters in New York’s First Congressional District know it’s long past time that our community elected a congresswoman dedicated to solving problems, not exploiting them,” she said. “Nick LaLota wants to govern from the extremes. He has proven time and time again that he doesn’t know what’s right for our district."

She added: "From trying to defund the police, to weakening gun safety laws, to disenfranchising Suffolk County voters, and supporting efforts to strip women of their fundamental freedoms, LaLota is only committed to exploiting division and advancing his own dangerous agenda. As a former prosecutor, town board member, and current Suffolk County legislator, I know what Long Islanders expect and deserve from their representatives. I know how to work across the aisle to deliver the solutions people on Long Island need right now.”

Lalota is an 11-year Navy veteran, his bio states. His father was a Nassau County police officer and his grandfathers were NYPD officers. He is a Saint Anthony’s High School alumni and graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. After returning home from three overseas deployments, Nick married his school sweetheart Kaylie; they are raising their three daughters in Amityville.LaLota is also chief of staff to the Suffolk County Legislature, a former Amityville trustee, and former Republican Suffolk County Board of Elections commissioner.

Fleming's bio states that she is a "problem solver who has worked across the aisle to fully fund law enforcement, reduce costs like the cost of gas, balance budgets, and hold the line on taxes. She will reject extreme partisanship, and as she has done throughout her career, deliver honest and competent government for all constituents in New York’s 1st Congressional District."
Throughout her time in public office, Fleming said she has championed tax relief, environmental protection, and has been a steady presence for residents throughout and coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, she prosecuted violent crimes and fraud in public programs. Fleming lives in Noyac with her husband Bob and their son Jai.

The candidates are vying for the seat vacated by Zeldin, (R-Shirley), who has led the district since 2015 after defeating former Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst. Zeldin won a GOP primary and is vying to unseat incumbent Hochul in the November election.

The redistricting of the 1st District sparked some controversy and a lawsuit, leading to the lines being redrawn by a court-ordered special master and also led to separate primary days for U.S. House of Representatives and New York State Senate, on August 23, and the primaries for the gubernatorial and New York State Assembly races, which were held on June 28.

Suffolk County communities in the 1st district include the East End — East Hampton Town, Southampton Town, Westhampton, Hampton Bays, the North Fork, Shelter Island and Riverhead — and parts of Brookhaven Town, as well as Smithtown and Huntington.