A look at who&nbsp;Newsday&#39;s&nbsp;editorial board is supporting this election season.

Opinion

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EndorsementsSenateSG2022

The Editorial Board

Anthony H. Palumbo had big shoes to fill in his first term replacing Ken LaValle, who retired after 44 effective years serving the 1st District. And Palumbo, 52, is off to a good start. 
 The New Suffolk&nbsp;Republican used his seven-year experience as a member of the GOP&nbsp;minority in the Assembly to get nearly 40 bills passed as a member of the Senate minority.&nbsp;He brought legislation&nbsp;to legalize kelp cultivation in Peconic and Gardiners&nbsp;bays with him from the Assembly, and partnered with Democrats to get it passed; the measure was supported&nbsp;by fishers and marine scientists who say kelp will provide&nbsp;a revenue stream for oyster farmers while absorbing nitrogen from the water. Palumbo&nbsp;also co-sponsored with Democratic Assemb. Fred Thiele&nbsp;a bill to place a referendum on November's ballot allowing East End residents to approve an additional half-percent real estate transfer tax to fund affordable housing projects in a region in desperate need of that. 
 Palumbo has a good grasp of environmental issues, supports needed changes to recent bail reform, and is pushing a proposal&nbsp;to fund a mental health initiative&nbsp;for the North and South forks. 
 Skyler Johnson, 22, of Mt. Sinai, is making his second attempt for this seat after losing in the 2020 Democratic primary. Previously an aide to Southampton Village Mayor Jesse Warren,&nbsp;Johnson works for the nonprofit New Hour for Women and Children LI. He&nbsp;is enthusiastic and knowledgeable about a wide range of issues and has a promising future in politics. But he needs more governmental experience, perhaps at a more local level, before making a run like this. 
 Palumbo laments that &quot;politics has gotten so impolite,&quot; and vows&nbsp;to lower the heat by continuing to talk and work with members of the opposing party. He's earned the chance to do that. 
 Newsday endorses Palumbo.

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Anthony H. Palumbo for New York's 1st Senate District

Newsday endorses Palumbo for 1st Senate District

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Timing is everything. 
 Susan Berland says that it &quot;wasn't the plan&quot; for her to run for State Senate;&nbsp;her candidacy emerged after redistricting&nbsp;and outgoing Sen. James Gaughran's decision not to run.&nbsp;But the Dix Hills Democrat has picked the right time to make a bid for&nbsp;Albany. 
 Berland is challenging Mario R. Mattera, who is completing his first term. The Saint James Republican rightly points to important successes such as his work on a wage-theft bill that allows the state to go after unscrupulous employers, especially in construction. But Mattera, 59, too often&nbsp;opposes&nbsp;policies&nbsp;without presenting new ideas. He takes pride in his efforts to encourage municipalities to opt out of marijuana retail dispensaries. Mattera said&nbsp;criminal justice reforms must be repealed to &quot;start from square one,&quot; but offers few&nbsp;alternatives to make the criminal justice system fairer but still effective. Mattera supports abortion access only in the first trimester, calls mandating the COVID-19 vaccine &quot;terrible,&quot; and is evasive about which vaccines he'd mandate&nbsp;for children attending school.&nbsp; 
 Berland, a former Suffolk County legislator and Huntington Town board member, has a clear understanding of how the state can help and work with counties and towns, particularly on issues like affordable housing. She is firm in her position on many statewide issues, including her support of a statewide constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights, her recognition of the importance of mandating vaccination for children attending school, and her interest in expanding universal pre-K. But Berland, 61, also can be nuanced, as&nbsp;in her parsing of the state's criminal justice legislation. Berland notes that she wouldn't have voted for the original bail reform legislation&nbsp;and advocates further judicial discretion,&nbsp;but she also emphasizes that the state must increase&nbsp;mental health funding and make available supportive housing&nbsp;for those with mental health needs. 
 If Berland brings her local experience to the statewide stage, both her district and the state would benefit. 
 Newsday endorses Berland.

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Susan Berland for New York's 2nd Senate District

Newsday endorses Berland for 2nd Senate District

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Dean Murray’s campaign for this&nbsp;newly-drawn seat marks the return of a familiar face to Suffolk County electoral politics. He served in the Assembly between 2011 and 2013, and again between 2015 and 2019. He ran for State Senate but lost four years ago. 
 Murray, 58, of East Patchogue, laments&nbsp;the current “stark divide” between&nbsp;right and left.&nbsp;“For some reason, compromise seems to be a bad word,” he says, realizing&nbsp;that accommodation is needed to move the state forward. 
 School funding, he says, should&nbsp;be an “investment” that helps keep youth from leaving Long Island.&nbsp;He wants&nbsp;more to go to&nbsp;career training. Having run a small business through the COVID-19 pandemic, Murray says the state should offer relief to companies that received loans from federal unemployment insurance they now must pay back. 
 Echoing themes of the Senate’s GOP caucus, Murray favors&nbsp;giving judges more discretion on remanding or bailing criminal defendants, opposes a toll on vehicles driving into Manhattan, and says New York's&nbsp;abortion laws “aren’t going anywhere.” He noted that as an assemblyman he voted against so-called&nbsp;&quot;raise the age&quot; legislation criticized for motivating&nbsp;gang members to recruit kids to commit offenses for which, if they're caught, they'd now go to family court, rather than criminal court. 
 Murray has a commendably useful&nbsp;grasp of local environmental issues, including the value of the proposed $4.2 billion environmental bond act on the ballot,&nbsp;a proposal on which he said he'd &quot;lean yes.&quot; He calls it a &quot;great idea&quot; to create a northeast regional coastal commission&nbsp;to help meet climate challenges. 
 He also speaks sensibly about retreating from the shoreline when it comes to development. The onus would be on property owners to choose to build, or rebuild,&nbsp;in risky areas. &quot;Don't come to us,&quot; meaning the public, for help with repairs or insurance if disaster strikes, he says. 
 Disappointingly, however, Murray says he supports “parents making the decision” on long-critical vaccines while “hoping to God” they make the right choice. We&nbsp;hope&nbsp;if elected he won't let&nbsp;anti-vax extremists convince him to subvert standard practices. 
 The Democratic nominee, Farzeen Bham, is a 20-year-old Stony Brook University student&nbsp;from Coram. Bham opposes cashless bail for those accused of violent offenses,&nbsp;but says reversing bail reforms wouldn’t solve current problems. He supports the environmental bond act, and says&nbsp;as a state, “We need to continue fully funding our schools in order to continue to reduce the burden on our property owners.” He also agrees with the idea of a coastal commission for regional preparation for climate change. But Bham&nbsp;has yet to establish a palpable&nbsp;presence in the district. 
 Newsday endorses Murray.

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Dean Murray for New York's 3rd Senate District

Newsday endorses Murray for 3rd Senate District

When&nbsp;Monica R. Martinez&nbsp;served previously in the State Senate, she developed a reputation for being an independent voice who could detour from her own party's path and who, on a very granular level, understood the needs of her constituents. 
 This year's redistricting has reshaped the area the Brentwood Democrat would represent.&nbsp;But after a hard-fought primary, Martinez, 45,&nbsp;is making the case that she can be the same independent representative for a new set of communities, saying she still has &quot;work to do.&quot; 
 Martinez, whose one Senate term ended with a 2020 loss, was one of the early voices after criminal justice reforms first passed in 2019 to suggest and push for&nbsp;amendments. Now, she&nbsp;says she wants to work on the &quot;root of the problem&quot; when it comes to crime, by focusing on at-risk youth and the mental health and substance abuse needs her district faces.&nbsp; 
 Martinez also puts a spotlight on women's health issues, including getting insurance to cover mammograms for younger women&nbsp;and emphasizing&nbsp;the importance of early detection of diseases&nbsp;such as endometriosis which can hinder pregnancies.&nbsp;A former teacher and school administrator,&nbsp;she worries about the students in her district who fell behind in school due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and is advocating more funding for after-school programs and special education needs. And she supports an equality amendment to the state Constitution to secure greater protection for&nbsp;abortion rights. 
 Martinez outlines clearly the need for additional funds for the region's parks, something she sees&nbsp;more acutely after having&nbsp;served as a regional deputy director&nbsp;in the state Parks Department. 
 Brentwood Republican Wendy Rodriguez&nbsp;is a real estate agent who knows her district and can speak particularly well to the needs of small business owners. And she rightly recognizes the importance of apprenticeship programs and other activities to try to reduce gang activity in the district. But while she talked&nbsp;of trying to address crime, inflation and other concerns, Rodriguez, 39, was unable to articulate the roles the state could play beyond the&nbsp;refrain of repealing cashless bail. And, surprisingly given her real estate background, she lacked&nbsp;an understanding of the region's need for affordable, multifamily housing. Rodriguez supports the right to abortion only in cases of rape, incest or a risk to the mother's life, and opposes funding to help those from outside the state who come here seeking abortion-related health care. 
 Martinez brings&nbsp;a fresh energy to her new Senate run. Her knowledge of how Albany works, particularly in terms of how to obtain funding for local projects, will benefit the neighborhoods she now represents and the region as a whole. 
 Newsday endorses Martinez.

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Monica R. Martinez for New York's 4th Senate District

Newsday endorses Martinez for 4th Senate District

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With this year’s redistricting came new State Senate lines, and a new challenge for Sen. John E. Brooks, currently representing the 8th District. 
 Under the new borders, the Seaford Democrat resides in the renamed and reconfigured 5th District, which stretches north to Bethpage and Hicksville, having lost much of its South Shore side.&nbsp;Surprised by the carving of his&nbsp;base, Brooks, 72, announced his retirement. Three days later, he said calls for him to run and his own realization, after a mass shooting in Texas, that more action on guns is needed in Albany, brought him back into the race. 
 Shifted lines have no impact on Brooks' deep understanding of local and state challenges.&nbsp;On the thorny issue of school property taxes, the once-obscure but workable plan he’s been pushing throughout his six years in the Senate to limit residential property taxes to 50% of any school district’s budget gains more bipartisan support each year. 
 And whether it’s on veterans affairs, fire and emergency services, making the Southern State Parkway safer, fighting to get relief for Nassau water customers served too expensively by for-profit water companies, or battling to get a local school district a needed financial monitor, Brooks’ voice is trusted.&nbsp; 
 Nassau County Legis. Steven&nbsp;Rhoads,&nbsp;53, of Bellmore, names safe streets, good schools, and the opportunity for young people to stay in Nassau as priorities. And he says he likes Brooks’ take on reforming school taxes. But Rhoads unfortunately sticks to briefing-book rhetoric on crime without appreciating the need for&nbsp;a multifaceted approach to ensuring public safety.&nbsp;And on the issue of water rates, Rhoads says municipalization can only work if the state provides the money to buy the system. That’s a popular political stance among Nassau Republicans, but not the practical reality. 
 Newsday endorses Brooks.

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John E. Brooks for New York's 5th Senate District

Newsday endorses Brooks for 5th Senate District

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Kevin M. Thomas, first elected to the State Senate in 2018, has already become a key presence for Long Island in Albany. 
 The 38-year-old Levittown Democrat has been a broker on state issues in his district, such as the endgame of the Long Island Rail Road’s crucial Third Track project which will improve the lives of countless riders. He has been rightly focused on fallout from the Bethpage plume’s groundwater pollution, as well as the fight to stabilize Nassau University Medical Center, a critical safety net hospital for the entire region. 
 Thomas, who is chairman of the Consumer Protection Committee, also has done admirable work in Albany on behalf of student consumers in particular. That includes pushing to make it easier for public servants to get student loan relief,&nbsp;ensuring more oversight for federal student loan servicers,&nbsp;promoting a Student Loan Borrower Bill of Rights,&nbsp;and prohibiting schools from withholding transcripts even if a student owes money. These are important fixes to a bureaucratic mess of a system that so many New Yorkers struggle with every day. 
 His opponent on the Republican line, James Coll, 50, of Seaford, is concerned that the state is heading in the wrong direction. As a former NYPD officer, Coll has reasonable questions about some of the criminal justice system changes that have been under an intense spotlight this campaign season. He is an engaged and&nbsp;informed member of his community, including on NUMC,&nbsp;and should stay involved in electoral politics. 
 But Thomas is the able representative the district needs. He knows crime is complicated and multifaceted, and that the state needs a careful, practical, and data-driven approach when considering further changes to the criminal justice system. He can be a moderating&nbsp;voice in the Democratic caucus. 
 Newsday endorses Thomas.

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Kevin M. Thomas for New York's 6th Senate District

Newsday endorses Thomas for 6th Senate District

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When Republican Jack Martins first ran for State Senate in 2010, he attacked an Albany power balance that had, for two years, rested all control of state government with&nbsp;Democrats.&nbsp;Martins had plenty to attack. The city-centric Democratic conferences had done exactly what Republicans always claimed they would if empowered: catered to city interests at the expense of Long Island. Martins and a Republican Senate majority swept in on opposition to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority&nbsp;payroll tax for which Long Island’s two Democratic senators&nbsp;had voted, and a promise to reverse funding shifts taking money from many Long Island school districts. 
 In Albany, Martins helped secure the property tax cap&nbsp;and middle-class income tax cuts. 
 Now Martins, 55, of Mineola, is again running against full Democratic control of the state. This year’s big MTA&nbsp;issue, teed up for Martins to oppose, is congestion pricing. The tolling of Manhattan’s central business district has supporters and detractors divided along familiar lines. As was the case before, many suburbanites don’t want to fund a transit system they see as wasteful. And if fees drive&nbsp;more commuters to the Long Island Rail Road,&nbsp;Martins asks where they will find parking near stations. 
 Like most GOP candidates, Martins also has seized on recent changes to the criminal code being linked to public safety concerns.&nbsp;Bail&nbsp;reform benefited from support of Long Island’s Democratic senators,&nbsp;infuriating many Long Islanders. 
 On both issues,&nbsp;his opposition is shortsighted. Martins may be right on the parking issue, but that&nbsp;can be ameliorated. And while he&nbsp;says the &quot;easy fix&quot; to bail reform is&nbsp;to repeal recent changes, he knows that is unrealistic. 
 Yet the broader feeling that Long Island’s interests again need passionate defending is real.&nbsp;And Martins is a shrewd, experienced and pragmatic defender of those interests. 
 He also was among the first to embrace transit-oriented development during his six years as Mineola mayor, and helped broker the deal that got Nassau County its gambling machines, albeit in Queens. 
 Two-term incumbent Democrat Anna M. Kaplan, 57, of Port Washington, passed&nbsp;bills to stop the sale of unregistered “ghost guns” and require&nbsp;that schools teach about the Holocaust. She says her main emphasis is constituent service, and&nbsp;her track record is admirable. But so is her opponent’s. 
 On bail reform, Kaplan has seemed happy with each rendition her party passes, then regretful when opponents attack it. And she has too often been unable to sway Democratic leaders deaf to Long Island’s priorities, as when her lukewarm support of an Amazon headquarters in Long Island City failed to slow the party's block of the project. 
 Both Kaplan and Martins have previously received this endorsement. This year, Long Island needs a bare-knuckled advocate, one who has standing to build&nbsp;a long-needed bipartisan suburban coalition. 
 Newsday endorses Martins.

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Jack Martins for New York's 7th Senate District

Newsday endorses Martins for 7th Senate District

Residents of State Senate District 8 have been offered an unfortunate choice. 
The ballot for voters in this South Shore zone includes Democrat John Alberts, of West Babylon, and Sayville Republican Alexis Weik, an incumbent state senator who is new to many due to redistricting. 
Alberts, who turns 39 on Nov. 1, is not actively campaigning. And the editorial board cannot endorse Weik due to her unacceptable stand on a critical issue. 
That is not to say that she would not be a capable representative on some issues. She understands the importance of protecting Long Island’s environment. She knows that the region is woefully underprepared for big hurricanes, and has worthwhile ideas about dredging and the need for an evacuation center where South Shore residents could find shelter in emergencies. 
And she is very likely to win, given the district’s GOP strength. 
But Weik, 50, has an alarming, and incorrect, position on COVID-19 vaccines, a hot-button, misinformation-prone topic. She told the editorial board, “We have seen that the, what they call a COVID vaccination, is nothing more than a flu shot, a rather ineffective flu shot.” 
She said that “people still have many symptoms, people still go to the hospital even if they’ve been vaccinated and boosted, they’re still in the hospital, they still are very, very sick. It depends on how many other underlying health conditions they have.” 
About the COVID vaccine, she claimed that “it hasn’t seemed to really minimize anything.” 
This is misleading at best. Elected officials have a responsibility to not be so ill-informed. Yes, vaccinated and boosted people get sick, but the vaccination drive has prevented many bad outcomes. An October report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that vaccination was linked to more than 650,000 fewer COVID-19 hospitalizations and more than 300,000 fewer deaths among seniors and other Americans enrolled in Medicare. 
Weik is abandoning science in her stand, an approach that does not bode well for her work on other topics. She also ardently continues to support so-called “parental choice” in child vaccines. 
Local Democrats also deserve criticism for not mounting a real race to give voters a true choice. 
Newsday makes no endorsement.

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No endorsement in New York's 8th Senate District

Newsday makes no endorsement for 8th Senate District

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When Todd Kaminsky vacated his seat, two experienced village officials stepped into the race to represent this southwest Nassau County district:&nbsp;Democrat Kenneth Moore, mayor of Bellerose, and Republican Patricia&nbsp;Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick,&nbsp;a Malverne trustee. 
 And there is much on which the two fresh faces agree. 
 Both&nbsp;supported the development of UBS Arena at Belmont Park, though Moore continues to have concerns about parking, and both support the bonding proposal that would allow racing officials to build a new grandstand and clubhouse facility. Both criticize plans to toll Manhattan's central business district and both recognize the need for improved enforcement on the Southern State Parkway. 
 In outlining her priorities, Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick uses a dynamic, thoughtful approach&nbsp;as she knowledgeably drills&nbsp;down on individual neighborhoods across the district. She advocates&nbsp;revitalizing communities like Inwood with additional housing and other development, improving public transit hubs like Valley Stream, and alleviating traffic on the Nassau Expressway. While she speaks to statewide issues by suggesting targeted revisions to criminal justice laws to better fight crime and supports putting an equality amendment&nbsp;on the ballot, Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick&nbsp;recognizes that job creation and support for small businesses are significant building blocks for her district.&nbsp;That's why she won't discount the notion of supporting siting a casino on Long Island or even in the district, as Belmont has been mentioned as a potential spot. 
 However, Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick, 57, is misguided in&nbsp;her support for&nbsp;wide exemptions for unvaccinated&nbsp;children to attend school. If elected, she&nbsp;should make an effort to better understand the public health need&nbsp;to require vaccines&nbsp;for diseases like polio and measles. 
 Moore says he hopes to be a &quot;strong voice for middle class families&quot; and his attention on economic issues&nbsp;fits with that theme. He ticks off general topics of importance to the district's residents, from drinking water and flooding to high taxes and school funding, but can't delve into them with detail or offer new solutions.&nbsp;Even when asked to assess the district's specific needs, Moore often pivots back to Bellerose, the village he knows best. 
 A volunteer firefighter and retired union leader, Moore, 61,&nbsp;said he worries about the possible addition of more accessory dwelling units in the&nbsp;district, particularly those in basements with no exits. And while he says he would try to get more developers to focus on building more affordable units, he also notes that the district is &quot;fairly built up.&quot; 
 Moore is a smart, capable elected official, but lacks the&nbsp;bigger thinking beyond the boundaries of the community he leads. That's necessary for anyone to represent a district with needs as diverse as the 9th. Of the two, Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick is better prepared to take on that challenge. 
 Newsday endorses Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick.

New York State Senate endorsements 2022

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