In Long Island House races, challengers paint incumbents as extremists

WASHINGTON — Long Island’s four U.S. House members all work to portray themselves as moderates unafraid of breaking with their party leaders.

Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport), for instance, was one of three Republicans to vote against a major farm bill, and Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) and Garbarino have split with party leaders on pro-union bills, including one that would nullify Trump orders. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) and Rep. Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre) were just two of seven Democrats to vote for a $64 billion Homeland Security funding bill, only to face a backlash after fatal shootings involving immigration agents.

But in this campaign season’s fight for party control of the House, foes are dismissing such broad voting patterns, saying these lawmakers miss the mark on votes that count most to their districts. They are depicting the incumbents either as "extremists" cozy with far-left socialists or loyalists to President Donald Trump's MAGA agenda.

"Of course, their opponents will try to put them in the same bucket as the most extreme in their party. That will help fire up the base, which is necessary to win," said Donald Nieman, a history professor at Binghamton University who has written about polarization in U.S. politics.

Nonpartisan experts say efforts to cast opponents as extreme are diminishing legitimate and valuable political discourse and dialogue. It’s important for public policy issues to be debated or hashed out in a genuine way, they say, even with such labeling.

"In an earlier time period, a voting record mattered," Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, in Poughkeepsie, added. "Were you a moderate or conservative Republican? Were you a liberal or moderate Democrat? How were you rated by various interest groups — the National Rifle Association, progressive labor unions, et cetera — based largely on voting record."

But now, Miringoff said, it’s almost solely and simply about whose camp does a lawmaker caucus with or belong to — Democrat or Republican?

Centrist votes

The four Long Island representatives  all said in statements they’ve been focused on what’s best for their districts.

LaLota said he’s "an American and a Long Islander before I’m a member of any party," and he said his votes prove it.

The four Long Island representatives do, in fact, split more frequently from their party on votes than most colleagues in the 435-seat chamber.

More broadly, the four Long Islanders stand as among the nation’s most centrist or moderate voters on roughly 600 roll-call votes during this two-year congressional session that began in January 2025, based on rankings by UCLA’s Voteview, a nonpartisan multidimensional scaling of all votes cast.

Gillen is the third most-conservative voter out of 212 current House Democrats in terms of voting, and Suozzi is the 14th. On the GOP side, Garbarino is the fourth most-liberal voter out of 218 current Republicans and LaLota the sixth. Together, this group, along with several other Hudson Valley and upstate New York members, represent a notable chunk of Congress’ 50-member ideological center in terms of voting.

Partisan attacks

Nonetheless, Miringoff said the campaign has featured broadly painted accusations of being either in cahoots with some emerging ultraleft conquest of the Democratic Party, or aligned with destructive threats to American institutions by Trump and the far right.

For instance, rarely does a week now pass without House Speaker Mike Johnson’s campaign team talking about Suozzi and Gillen having "extreme" voting records, or being tied to the radical far-left.

A vote that is most frequently cited against all four lawmakers is either their opposition or support last year of Trump’s massive tax and spending bill.

That bill permanently extended and expanded trillions of dollars in expiring tax cuts, and temporarily raised the state and local tax deduction cap, while rolling back federal funding for social safety net programs like Medicaid and nutritional assistance and implementing stricter work requirements.

That measure passed 218-214 in a mostly party-line vote. Not a single House Democrat voted for it and only two Republicans against it.

Still, Republicans continue hammering Gillen and Suozzi as "extremists" for voting against that bill. Simultaneously, Democrats have been hitting Garbarino and LaLota for their votes to help pass it. Democrats call it a "tax scam" that has led to closed hospitals, children losing food, and healthcare being stripped away, and a reason why Republicans will lose this November.

Charges of extremism

These four incumbents are all hit with similar attacks.

Chris Gallant, of Amity Harbor, the Democrat challenging LaLota, said, "I don’t care that he’s a Republican, I care that he doesn’t have the courage to stand up for Long Island families.”

Garbarino’s challenger, Patrick Halpin, of Oak Beach, noted the congressman "in this extreme MAGA Congress" still votes with his party 95% of the time, and "that’s not moderate, that’s all-in." 

On the flip side, Democrats Gillen and Suozzi are slapped as extremists allied with the ascendant far-left of their party.

"Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen can point to whatever study they want; the truth is, their records display a clear pattern of alignment with the socialist wing of their Party," Maureen O’Toole, a spokesman for Speaker Johnson's (R-La.) political arm, said.

The efforts to brand Suozzi, who is being challenged by Republican Michael LiPetri, of Farmingdale, have prompted a response.

Even before several establishment Democrats in New York City went down to defeat in the June 13 primary to socialist-backed candidates — Suozzi held a Washington, D.C., news conference to publicly announce he’s taken a pledge against extremism and to be "capitalist not socialist."

Gillen, who is being challenged by Republican Jeanine Driscoll, of Bellerose, has since joined Suozzi in saying she’s taken the same pledge.

Breaking party line

Departures from the party line are sometimes attributed to ongoing and specific interests or concerns within a region or state.

"We have seen some of these Republicans stray from their party on labor and environmental issues, while some of the Dems have strayed from their party on crime and immigration matters," University at Buffalo political scientist Shawn Donahue said.

LaLota, for instance, has strongly aligned himself with his party on border security and cutting taxes. But he said his independence from his GOP colleagues on some labor-related and workforce issues is, in part, carrying on a Northeastern and Long Island tradition.

"I’m honored to fight for hardworking men and women to ensure they have safe working conditions, can earn a decent wage and retire with dignity," he said.

Especially in competitive districts, Nieman said, a moderate voting record could be the sweet spot, giving attacking opponents less ammunition, "while appealing to swing voters who are more disgusted with mindless partisanship than are ideologically committed voters."

University at Buffalo political scientist Jacob Neiheisel said conventional wisdom is that members' voting records do matter to their constituents. But he added, "If a challenger can make the case that their opponent is an extremist or ideologue — two words that are affectively tinged in American politics — then there is the possibility that such epithets might stick."