Republicans painted Long Island completely red Tuesday night with the party’s candidate Ed Romaine winning a landslide victory against Democrat David Calone to become Suffolk County executive.
The GOP now occupies all the countywide seats in Nassau and Suffolk Counties — both county executive seats, district attorney and comptroller’s offices as well as all four congressional seats.
Romaine sailed to victory with 56% of the vote, beating Calone by more than 26,000 votes.
“This is a political earthquake,” said former US Sen. Al D’Amato.
Longtime analysts of Long Island politics said they could recall only one brief period in the last 60 years when the GOP was this dominant
“Long Island for now is defiantly returning to its red roots,” said Lawrence Levy, dean of Hofstra University’s National Center for Suburban Studies.
D’Amato said Long Island voters rejected the Democratic leadership in the country and New York State and are particularly disgusted with the migrant crisis — and that includes rank-and-file Democrats in the suburbs.
“The borders are in chaos. There’s nothing for Democrats to come and vote for. And those who are coming to vote are voting for Republicans in local races,” he said.
He warned the bloodbath could continue next year when Democrats running for state legislature and Congress will have to defend the congestion pricing fee used to fund mass transit that Long Island motorists will have to pay to enter Manhattan’s commercial districts.
Romaine, 76, the Brookhaven Town supervisor since 2012, flipped the Suffolk County executive seat from blue to red.
The current occupant, three-term Democrat Steve Bellone, had to relinquish the seat because of term limits.
Romaine was favored to win after a series of high-profile endorsements, including the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association, which backed a GOP executive for the first time in 20 years.
It’s a continuation of the GOP dominance over Democrats on Long Island in recent election cycles.
Pickups of two congressional seats on Long Island helped the GOP capture control of the House of Representatives in last year’s midterm elections — thanks in large part to a strong showing by GOP gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin, the then-Suffolk congressman who swamped Democrat Kathy Hochul on Long Island running a law and order campaign, though she narrowly won statewide.
Backlash over the Democrats’ cashless bail reform law helped propel GOP victories for Nassau County Executive and the two district attorneys races in Nassau and Suffolk in 2021.
“This is a repudiation. This is a backlash against policies dictated by New York City Democrats that have gone too far to the left. Suburban and rural voters have had enough,” said Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican who toppled Democratic incumbent Laura Curran in 2021.
Blakeman also said Long Island voters are repulsed by the migrant crisis, one of the top three issues on voters’ minds along with public safety and taxes.
“Hard-working people are seeing their taxpayer dollars going for services to foreigners they don’t get,” he said.
The conspicuous absence of prominent statewide Democrats including Hochul from appearing in Suffolk to campaign with Calone was a clear sign of the party’s diminished brand in the heart of suburbia, Republicans said.
By comparison, Zeldin stumped with Romaine during the final weeks of the campaign.
Zeldin Tuesday night said voters of all stripes are turned off by the direction of New York and the country with Democrats in charge.
“You’ ‘ve got independents and blanks [not registered with a party] voting Republican. You’re even seeing Democrats voting Republican,” Zeldin, who has been campaigning with GOP candidates across the state.
He said Republicans have made inroads in once Democratic strongholds on Long Island, such as Great Neck and the Five Towns.
“The electorate is not happy with what they see coming out of the city. There are issues like the migrant crisis and cashless bail,” Zeldin said.
Zeldin, who is Jewish, said rising antisemitism that has exploded to the surface amid the Hamas-Israel war also is “waking up the electorate.”
“We see pro-Hamas supporters vandalizing property or intimidating Jewish students,” he said.
