State Attorney General's Office subpoenas Huntington over November election

The state Attorney General’s Office has issued subpoenas to the Town of Huntington regarding the November 2025 election, the spokeswoman for the town said Monday. 

That election featured races for supervisor, town board and highway superintendent, but town spokeswoman Christine Geed didn't elaborate Monday on whether a particular race was the focus of the investigation.

Geed said the attorney general's office subpoenaed for employment records tied to the investigation.

“The Town does not comment on current or pending investigations,” an emailed statement from Geed said.

Newsday previously reported that the attorney general's office was reviewing complaints about the supervisor's race amid concerns by Democrats that Republicans and Conservatives raided the Working Families Party line.

Last November, Huntington's supervisor election was among the closest on Long Island, with Republican incumbent Ed Smyth defeating Democrat Cooper Macco by 418 votes, according to official returns from the Suffolk County Board of Elections. Working Families Party candidate Maria Delgado received 1,195 votes, or about 3% of the total.

Macco had been the endorsed candidate for the Working Families Party but lost the ballot line to Delgado in a primary in June of last year.

Days after Smyth’s narrow win Nov. 4, the origins of Delgado’s candidacy were thrust into the spotlight when she told Newsday that she had “no idea” she was on the ballot. However, county Board of Elections records showed she voted in both the primary and the general election.

A Newsday investigation earlier this year found Michael Pastore, of Huntington Station, who has worked for the Town of Huntington since 1986 and is a commissioner with the Huntington Manor Fire District, said he was duped into collecting petitions for Delgado for her to qualify to face Macco in the primary. 

John LoTurco, Pastore’s attorney, said Monday he commends the investigation and that hopefully the AG’s office will issue a report that will result in legislation that prohibits third-party blocker candidates. He said his client did nothing wrong.

“Michael has fully cooperated with the AG’s office, and we expect him to eventually be completely vindicated by the investigation,” LoTurco said. “He committed no crime, he had no malice intent, he just followed his normal protocol.”

Smyth did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Macco, reached Monday, was surprised to hear about the subpoenas.

“I applaud the attorney general for looking into this further; a lot of people have called for further investigation since November, and even though it’s July, I’m happy to see that justice is moving forward and I look forward to the Attorney General completing her investigation,” he said.