No GOP candidate to run for Southampton supervisor

The Southampton Republican Committee will not run a candidate against incumbent Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst in the fall elections, clearing the way for her re-election.

Southampton’s GOP Chairman Ernest Wruck said the party didn’t have a backup candidate after Christopher Nuzzi, a Republican town board member who received the committee’s nomination for supervisor in May, decided not to run.

Wruck said the timing made it difficult for a new candidate to raise funds.

The Republicans will concentrate on keeping their 3-2 majority on the town board, Wruck said, by backing new candidates for two board seats on the ballot: Christine Scalera, an attorney from Southampton specializing in land use, and William Hughes Jr., a retired member of the Southampton Town police force and Hampton Bays resident.

The two will run against Bridget Fleming, a Democrat of Noyack seeking reelection, and Brad Bender, the Flanders, Riverside and Northampton Community Association president. Current board member Nancy Graboski, a Republican, can not seek reelection because of term limits.

The Democratic Committee has endorsed Throne-Holst, an Independent party member. She was elected to the town board in 2007 and elected supervisor two years later.