Siela Bynoe enters 6th District State Senate race
Nassau County Legislator Siela Bynoe attends a public meeting at Theodore Roosevelt Executive and Legislative Building in Mineola on June 26. Credit: James Escher
Nassau County Legis. Siela Bynoe (D-Westbury) on Wednesday announced she will run for the 6th District State Senate seat.
Bynoe, 56, health advocate and former executive director of the Huntington Housing Authority, was reelected last month to her fifth term on the county legislature, where she represents the 2nd District that includes New Cassel, Uniondale and parts of East Meadow, Hempstead and Westbury.
"Together we can create positive change. We can uplift our communities. We can make a real difference in the lives of our neighbors," Bynoe told a crowd gathered at the The Space at Westbury concert hall for her formal announcement.
She would face Assemb. Taylor Darling in a Democratic primary. Darling, 40, of Hempstead, announced her candidacy in September.
The Democratic-leaning district includes the Nassau County communities of Carle Place, Freeport, Garden City, Hempstead, Lakeview, New Cassel, Rockville Centre, Roosevelt, Uniondale, West Hempstead and Westbury. There are more than double the number of registered Democrats than Republicans in the district.
The seat is currently held by state Sen. Kevin Thomas, who is running in the Democratic primary in the 4th Congressional District.
Bynoe for nearly 10 years has been a member of the county legislature's Democratic minority caucus, where she has pushed to increase mental health services and affordable housing and elevated the infrastructure concerns of her constituents.
In 2021, she joined the legislature's two other Black members — Kevan Abrahams (D-Freeport) and Carrié Solages (D-Lawrence) — in voting against a plan by former Democratic County Executive Laura Curran to reform the county police department. They said the plan did not substantially boost outside oversight of the department.
Bynoe in May negotiated with County Executive Bruce Blakeman's administration and Las Vegas Sands executives for an additional $25 million in community benefits for Uniondale, East Meadow and Hempstead Village before voting in favor of the county's lease agreement with Sands for the Coliseum site. Sands has proposed a $4 billion casino resort on the property.
Darling was first elected to the state Assembly in 2018, when she defeated longtime Assemb. Earlene Hooper, who held that office from 1988 to 2018.
Candice Ferrette covers Nassau County government and politics on Long Island. She has been a reporter at Newsday since 2011.
