Battle for Suffolk County Democratic Party boss becomes proxy fight for group's direction

The race for Suffolk County Democratic Party boss has become a battle for the soul of the party.

It is playing out in the bare-knuckle trenches of party politics, where contenders and their allies are fanning out to recruit hundreds of committee members to fill vacant seats, a push that could not only increase their chance of winning but could also alter the party's trajectory.

Kathryn Casey Quigley, chair of the Southold Town Democratic Committee, launched a bid in December to unseat longtime Democratic leader Rich Schaffer, citing mounting frustration with his leadership, losses at the polls and cross endorsements. Her campaign, she said, is about reforming the Democratic Party to regain trust among voters.

Schaffer, who has led the county committee since 2000, said his focus remains on uniting Democrats. 

The strategy to build a base that could get either one elected is playing out in this year's petitioning process, where candidates are collecting the required signatures needed to become a committee member. Casey Quigley's team hopes boosting the number of committee members will breathe new life into the party and force a shift in its agenda even if the challenge proves unsuccessful. 

Casey Quigley estimates her campaign will have secured petitions for about 350 new committee members, an effort being countered by Schaffer during the Feb. 24-April 2 petitioning period.

"We’ve been successful already," Casey Quigley said in an interview. "Obviously, I want to win county chair, but the goal is to build the party because we were 65% vacant. So no matter what, we’re so much stronger."

When reached for comment, Schaffer said in a statement there’s been "unprecedented enthusiasm" during petitioning "both at the doors and among our dedicated petitioners."

He said he has personally collected more than 250 signatures for candidates.

"Team Schaffer volunteers are energized, working hard, and ready to unite to elect Democrats this November," he said.

Schaffer is also the Babylon Town supervisor and chairman of its Democratic committee. Casey Quigley joined the Southold Town committee in 2017 and briefly stepped down as chair in 2023 before returning in 2024.

Committee members play an integral role in helping to get candidates for higher office elected. They help during the petitioning process, aid in voter registration and canvass neighborhoods closer to Election Day by walking door-to-door to inform voters about the party's candidates.

The committee chair election is held sometime between Sept. 17 and Oct. 6, as mandated by state election law, and the term is two years.

The Suffolk GOP announced its slate of candidates for congressional and statewide races last month and chairman Jesse Garcia said he didn’t expect any primaries. 

Collecting signatures

Casey Quigley said the new committee members on her side "are really fired up to do the work." Whereas she alleges Schaffer has been strategically adding members strictly to counter her impact.

She said the committee members joining on her behalf have been trained on what the role entails. She said on Schaffer's side, paid canvassers in some instances are collecting signatures on behalf of the candidates he is bringing on board.

Bryan Sokolowski, political director for the county Democratic committee, said political parties routinely use field vendors to qualify and elect candidates.

"In our case, these canvassers are oftentimes enthusiastic young Democrats who are still in college seeking professional opportunities in the political realm," he said. "The Suffolk Dems are proud to employ and nurture the next generation of Democratic leaders."

Casey Quigley said the recruitment effort has centered in the five Western towns since the smaller East End towns are already well represented. She added she was trying to coordinate with town committees on which election districts to focus on to avoid potential primaries.

"But that sort of fell apart because they saw that we would win," she said.

The town committee leaders, particularly in the Western towns, have largely fallen in line behind Schaffer.

Both sides began rolling out endorsements in the past few weeks. The "Team Schaffer" campaign has received endorsements from prominent Democrats like Gov. Kathy Hochul and Suffolk County Sheriff Errol D. Toulon Jr. Meanwhile, Casey Quigley has received an endorsement from Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who held a town hall last year in Patchogue.

Emily Kaufman of Huntington, an activist and organizer on Long Island, said Casey Quigley’s campaign inspired her to seek a committee position.

Kaufman, 43, who has collected signatures while eight months pregnant, said the influx of new voices will force some change from the status quo regardless of the outcome of the chair election.

"Before, we couldn’t entice enough people to make a meaningful difference to join in the kind of numbers that Kathryn has inspired," she said.

And if they fail to oust Schaffer, she envisions a similar effort in two years.

'Polarized climate'

William Ferraro, who lost a 2019 election for Brookhaven Town supervisor and remains connected to the party's inner workings, said the power struggle has made it difficult for candidates seeking to get on the ballot in congressional and statewide races to get accurate estimates of the number of signatures collected due to a lack of communication between the two sides. In some cases, petitioners could be doubling the work by going into election districts already covered, he said.

Ferraro said he has viewed the Casey Quigley team as "largely decentralized" and they are "independently collecting and submitting their own petitions." He said that leads to uncertainty over which candidates the Casey Quigley team is collecting signatures for.   

It's created an environment with the potential for some candidates to miss the ballot, he cautioned.

"Candidates and their staff have already been navigating an extremely polarized climate where they don’t want to risk angering Team [Casey Quigley] or Team Schaffer," he said in an interview. "And now they’re completely in the dark as to how many signatures they have to go in the final weeks of petitioning."

Sokolowski said the committee is in "constant communication" with candidates and the town committees "to ensure that all our Democratic candidates are qualified for the ballot."

Ferraro was pessimistic about the party’s power struggle leading to a positive outcome for candidates.

"There is a general feeling that campaigns are taking a back seat to a hostile, personality-driven contest between two people who won’t even be on the ballot in November," he said.

Lawrence Levy, executive dean at Hofstra University’s National Center for Suburban Studies, said that while Schaffer has faced criticism in some Democratic circles for not "enthusiastically backing" a candidate, his tactic has been to "keep my powder dry for the races I really think I can win."

Levy said he believes the chances of a regime change are "slim to none."

"The question is what Schaffer takes from it, learns from it," he said. "Sometimes when you’re in office for a very long time, you can lose touch with people and issues that you might not have when you were hungrier." 

By Joe Werkmeister

joe.werkmeister@newsday.com

Joe Werkmeister joined Newsday in 2022 and covers Suffolk County government and politics. He is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and previously worked as the editor of two North Fork community newspapers.

---