Incumbent mayors Donna Koch in Northport, Tom Gulbransen in Old Field win reelection
Northport Mayor Donna Koch, left, waits in line to vote at Village Hall Wednesday. She won a second term. Credit: Rick Kopstein
Mayors in Northport and Old Field were reelected Wednesday as voters there and elsewhere went to the polls to decide a handful of village elections.
In Northport, Mayor Donna Koch defeated Joe Sabia, a village trustee, to win a second four-year term, according to results from the village clerk's office.
In Old Field, Mayor Tom Gulbransen won reelection to a two-year term, defeating trustee Rebecca Van Der Bogart, 95-62, Village Clerk Patty Rodier said.
Meanwhile, results from the mayor's contest in Saddle Rock weren't available late Wednesday night. Polls closed at 9 p.m. Robert Kraus, a trustee, faced off against Kambiz Akhavan for the open seat.
In Northport, Koch's victory caps a contentious campaign during which both she and Sabia characterized their relationship as “very poor." The final vote tally, according to Village Clerk Georgina Cavagnaro, was 917-532.
Koch, 65, had framed her first term as a success, given that she updated the village's comprehensive plan for the first time in 50 years and negotiated police and highway worker contracts.
Sabia, 69, whose four-year trustee seat is up this year, was making his second run for mayor. He had criticized Koch’s “harsh” leadership style.
Other races
Trustee seats also were up for grabs in some villages Wednesday.
In Old Field, a ballot quirk resulted in almost all candidates mounting write-in campaigns. Incumbent trustee Robert Chase, the only candidate to appear on the ballot, won reelection with 107 votes, and former trustee William Schaefer received 106 votes to win the second trustee spot. Village justice Mitchell Birzon received 55 votes to win another term.
In Babylon Village, incumbent trustee Jeff Szabo defeated challenger Jordan Hoffman, 511-256, according results from the village clerk there.
Szabo, 53, had been appointed by Mayor Mary Adams in October to fill the unexpired term of Sean Goodwin, who died unexpectedly the previous month. Szabo will serve the one year left in the four-year term. Trustees earn $7,500 per year.
Szabo ran on the Better Babylon Party line. He has been chief executive of the Suffolk County Water Authority for 16 years.
Hoffman, 41, an attorney, ran on the Jordan Hoffman for Village Trustee line. He's a lieutenant in the Babylon Fire Department's rescue squad.
In Plandome Manor, two incumbent trustees retained power, according to officials there.
Patricia O’Neill and Peter Kulka, of the People's Party, received 178 votes and 166 votes, respectively, to win two-year terms. Eric Kattan and Sanaz Sadjadi, running on the Community First line, earned 92 and 86 votes, respectively.
In Garden City, eight candidates were vying for four trustee seats in an election that served as a referendum on how to deal with St. Paul’s school. Results were unavailable late Wednesday night.
In Saddle Rock, the results of three trustees races and a village justice race also weren't available.
Newsday's Denise M. Bonilla, Carl MacGowan, Deborah S. Morris, Joseph Ostapiuk and Ted Phillips contributed to this story.
Check back for updates to this developing story.
Joshua Needelman covers the Town of North Hempstead for Newsday. A Long Island native and University of Maryland graduate, his work has appeared in publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post.
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