Todd D. Kaminsky, State Senate, 9th District

Todd Kaminsky

DEMOCRATIC

BACKGROUND: Kaminsky, 40, of Long Beach, is also running on the Independent, Working Families, Women’s Equality and Reform party lines. He is running for his second term as senator in the 9th District after first being voted into office in 2016 during a special election to take former State Sen. Dean Skelos’ seat. He previously was elected to one term in the state Assembly 20th District in 2014. Kaminsky is a former federal public corruption prosecutor and served six years as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York. He also worked as a domestic-violence prosecutor in Queens and worked for nearly a year for the Manhattan law firm Debevoise & Plimpton LLP. He graduated from the University of Michigan and New York University School of Law in 2003. He is married with two children.

ISSUES: Kaminsky said he wants to hold the line on taxes. He said he has voted against new taxes 245 times and helped vote for a middle-class tax cut. He said he is working to root out corruption in Albany by passing legislation to take away pensions from convicted politicians and will attempt to remove special-interest dollars by imposing stricter ethics rules. Kaminsky has also been a strong advocate for gun control and proposed a bill to keep guns out of schools and has voted to remove guns from those convicted of domestic violence. Kaminsky said he will push for additional laws to tighten background checks, permit victims of gun violence to sue manufacturers and pass a red flag law to prevent anyone deemed a danger to themselves or others to own a firearm. Kaminsky said he will also hold state officials accountable for upgrades and delays on the LIRR and improvements of Long Island infrastructure, such as improvements to the Long Island Expressway.  

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.