Trish Kopp for Assembly District 7
Trish Kopp (D-Oakdale) is running for this Assembly seat. Credit: James Escher
Find out the candidates Newsday's editorial board has selected on your ballot: newsday.com/endorsements2026
For the first time in six years, residents of the 7th Assembly District will have a new representative.
Current Assemb. Jarett C. Gandolfo is running for State Senate. Seeking the seat in one of the harder-fought races this season are DawnMarie D. Lentz-Kuhn, a Republican Islip Town councilwoman, and Democrat Trish Kopp, a retired art teacher.
Lentz-Kuhn, 39, of Bohemia, is a mainstay in Islip Republican politics, having worked as chief of staff for Anthony Piccirillo, the presiding officer of the Suffolk County Legislature. She also has her own political consulting and data analysis firm. She wants the state to suspend taxes on gas and home heating oil but says the decreased revenue wouldn't impact the state budget. And she supports exemptions from the state property tax cap for municipalities like Islip.
"I do not foresee helping the folks at the pump or when they heat their home during the winter ... would negatively impact the budget in a big way," she said.
Lentz-Kuhn wants to "introduce" a first-time homebuyer credit, but the state already provides several incentives for first-time homebuyers. She said she isn't "naive" to think she can fix traffic congestion at the Oakdale Merge and didn't offer a plan. "But I will advocate for not just another study or throwing money at the wall, but trying to find a real solution in that area," she said.
Kopp, 60, of Oakdale, has a clearer plan for Long Island's housing crisis, saying the state should build small starter homes that are "union built" and use "forward-thinking energies." She said if governments can dole out tax breaks to corporations for data centers and warehouses, they can do the same for taxpayers. She is opposed to the proposed Amazon warehouse in Holbrook and wants to tax billionaires to pay for universal childcare.
Success in Albany for a minority member means being able to work in a bipartisan way but Lentz-Kuhn's career so far is decidedly partisan and she is too entrenched in local GOP politics to be effective in the Democratic-controlled Assembly.
Newsday Opinion endorses Kopp.
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.
