Rebecca L. Sanin for Suffolk Legislative District 16
Democratic Legis. Rebecca L. Sanin is running for reelection in Suffolk County Legislature District 16. Credit: James Escher
Find out the candidates Newsday's editorial board selected on your ballot: newsday.com/endorsements2025
The 16th District covers central Huntington Town from Huntington and South Huntington east and south to Dix Hills and parts of Brentwood.
Both candidates have extensive experience and detailed knowledge of the district and how government works.
Democrat Rebecca L. Sanin, 47, of Huntington Station, now in her first term, was the former chief of a major Long Island nonprofit, and her deep connections have benefits for the residents of her district. She persistently advocates at the county level for funding for social services programs to address the mental health and substance abuse problems that rose during COVID-19 and have not abated. She is very concerned about the misuse of cannabis that has quickly arisen after the state legalized sales and the need to bring more awareness to the risks it presents.
In the district, Sanin has connected building trade unions to apprenticeship programs in Brentwood schools and brought a domestic violence awareness program to those in Huntington.
A focal point has been improving the rundown Five Corners area in Huntington Station around Depot and East Pulaski roads, with better landscaping, road paving, traffic signals and ADA-compliant curbs, while jawboning the landlord of the CVS anchor store to repaint it and fix the parking lot. She worked with the town and county to purchase and preserve Stanhope Stables in West Hills as an equestrian center.
Republican Chad A. Lupinacci, 46, of South Huntington, currently a full-time teacher at Farmingdale State College, was a South Huntington school board member for nine years, then served five years in the Assembly and one term as Huntington Town supervisor. He knows how government works, yet, he had few specifics on what he would like to accomplish as a legislator, other than getting rid of peddlers at roadside intersections.
Lupinacci said that two prior incidents involving claims that he made unwanted sexual advances, one in Albany and the other in Town Hall, were resolved in his favor and are in his past.
Newsday Opinion endorses Sanin.
ENDORSEMENTS ARE DETERMINED solely by the Newsday editorial board, a team of opinion journalists focused on issues of public policy and governance. Newsday’s news division has no role in this process.
