Field is set for LI congressional primaries, with a month to go

WASHINGTON — Long Island is the battleground in four intra-party congressional dustups, as New York’s June 23 primary election races enter their final month this weekend.

Two Republican candidates are vying for the U.S. House seat held by Democrat Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove), while Suozzi finds himself as the Island’s only congressional incumbent facing a challenge from within their own party.

Two Democratic hopefuls are seeking to run against Republican Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville). And the handpicked candidate of the Nassau County GOP to take on freshman Rep. Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre) faces an insurgent Republican challenge from an Air Force veteran and minister. 

These races could have impacts on which party controls the U.S. House next year, though party primaries often don't attract big voter turnouts.

Often, said Lawrence Levy, executive dean of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University, "It’s a total insider contest where the party organizations are like the PTAs and teacher unions that get the vote out that nobody else cares about even if it has the potential to be a major impact on your life."

Here’s a rundown of the primaries heading into June.

District 3 Republican primary

Former Assemb. Michael LiPetri, 35, of Farmingdale, is running again for a seat he narrowly lost to Suozzi in 2024 and is endorsed by President Donald Trump and the Nassau County GOP.

But he is facing a spirited and mostly self-funded campaign from conservative Gregory Hach, 55, of Oyster Bay, who — while not having the Trump endorsement — calls himself “A conservative America First Trump Republican.”

LiPetri says he’s got the momentum, building off the race against Suozzi two years ago. He underscores that Trump, House GOP leadership and Bruce Blakeman — the Nassau County GOP executive and New York Republican gubernatorial candidate — are “all-in” behind his campaign. He describes affordability as a big issue, saying seniors on Long Island want to stay in their homes and “my generation wants to buy homes in the communities we grew up in.”

But Hach’s aggressive attacks have hit LiPetri for allegedly having no true understanding of the affordability challenges of rents and mortgages and other “real-life responsibilities” — because LiPetri lives at his parents’ home. LiPetri does not respond directly to that attack.

But LiPetri’s campaign questions Hach's claims to being a solid conservative because his law firm previously has donated to the campaigns of Democrats Andrew Cuomo, Letitia James, Kathy Hochul and Elizabeth Warren. To that, the Hach campaign responds, "Like the Trump Organization and so many successful New York firms, Hach & Rose gives to everyone.”

Nonpartisan political handicappers say the district likely will lean Democrat this fall, but both Republicans are convinced Suozzi is beatable.

District 4 Republican primary

Jeanine Driscoll, 59, a local Hempstead tax official, was picked last month by Nassau GOP Chairman Joseph Cairo and his lieutenants to challenge Democrat Gillen — after former congressman Anthony D’Esposito decided not to run. But before Gillen, she first must get past her own insurgent primary challenger.

Marvin Williams, 64, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and minister from Garden City, is also on the June 23 ballot.

Since being tapped to run in April, Driscoll has not been prominent on the stump. Her campaign team says she remains focused on unseating Gillen, and the big issues are affordability and taxes.

As the receiver of taxes for the Town of Hempstead, a spokesman said, “Jeanine has spent years helping residents keep more of their hard-earned money, and that message is resonating strongly throughout the district as Gillen makes life more expensive.”

Williams says affordability and term limits are big parts of his platform. He also says no other Republican candidate is better positioned to peel away voters Gillen needs because he is someone "who can speak credibly to people of faith, veterans and communities of color.”

While Williams said he does not intend to make race a central issue, he does say, "What is apparent is that I am a Black man, as well as a conservative, a 30-year U.S. military veteran and an ordained Presbyterian minister — someone who Gillen cannot paint as an ‘extremist.’"

Nonpartisan political handicappers see the district as leaning Democrat.

District 3 Democratic primary

Danielle Welch, 35, of Bayside, in eastern Queens, says “the odds are stacked against you when you’re challenging an incumbent” like fellow Democrat Suozzi, 63.

Welch is also still working full-time as a public defender and raising a toddler, and she says she doesn’t have a wealthy network to rely on. “But what I’ve been really lucky to have on my side is there is a huge appetite for change in our district,” she says.

“The short version," she says, "is that Suozzi has proven we cannot trust him to stand up to Trump, and he is not doing a good job of standing up for working-class families, either."

She also complains that Suozzi keeps talking about bipartisanship “as if we’re still living in 1996 and have a Republican Party full of people like John McCain,” when instead she says the far-right is not really interested in compromise. 

A Suozzi campaign spokesperson, Kim Devlin, did not comment directly on Welch, but said, "Congressman Suozzi is a relentless and effective fighter for the people he represents.”

She also said Suozzi works with colleagues “to get things done." She cast Suozzi as “standing up to misguided tariffs, opposing reckless wars that have no plan or exit strategy,” protecting air and water from polluters and lowering the price of prescription drugs. He has “delivered for local small businesses and his constituents,” she said.

District 1 Democratic primary

One of the Democrats hoping to take on GOP incumbent LaLota this fall is Chris Gallant, 37, of Amity Harbor, a Black Hawk pilot, Army veteran, National Guardsman, former air traffic controller and volunteer firefighter.

The other is Lukas Ventouras, 25, of Northport, who is attending St. John’s School of Law, has worked on past political campaigns and says he worked a summer in the office of Rep. Grace Meng (D-Queens). Both cast themselves as bringing fresh ideas to government.

Nonpartisan political handicappers so far are not seeing this district as very competitive. In 2024, LaLota defeated Democratic challenger John Avlon by more than 10 percentage points. The Cook Political Report rates the district this year as “solid Republican.”

Gallant's campaign says his focus has been on affordability, public safety, protecting veterans and working families, improving infrastructure and transportation, defending healthcare access and restoring trust in government.

For Ventouras, some of the driving issues include fighting corruption and promoting universal healthcare and housing affordability. He casts LaLota as someone who rarely goes against Trump.

Ventouras also raises the fact that, “I actually live in the district,” while noting that both Gallant and LaLota live outside of the CD-1 boundary lines. The U.S. Constitution does not require members of Congress to live in the district they represent.