Can Taylor Darling show her 2018 sparks in a primary against Laura Gillen?

Daily Point

Darling without much money or party backing says she has community support

Taylor Raynor, a 34-year-old psychologist who had never run for elective office, stunned Long Island in 2018 with a successful Democratic primary challenge unseating Earlene Hooper, a lioness of Nassau County politics and a member of the Assembly for three decades. Raynor’s success came with the backing and financial support of Democratic Party chair Jay Jacobs.

Now known as Taylor Darling and after just three terms in the Assembly, she is looking to repeat her incumbent slaying history with a primary against CD4 incumbent Laura Gillen, who holds one of the most vulnerable House seats in the nation. What is different is that this time, Darling doesn’t have the backing of Jacobs, who as party leader is supporting Gillen.

Asked if the Hooper campaign would be a model for her strategy, Darling first praised Hooper as someone who had done a lot for her community. But she added that Hooper "had lost touch" and became "unresponsive to it."

But the message sure sounds the same. "Public servants have to serve the public," she said.

Darling told The Point that she contemplated a run in the 2024 election but felt it wasn’t the right time and that she didn’t have local support. In that race, Gillen ousted first-term Republican Anthony D’Esposito. Now Darling says she has the support she needs in the Black communities that are the backbone of the Democrats in CD4. "If I had a $1 for everyone who asked me to run, I would be a millionaire," she said. "We don’t want our leaders chosen for us." 

And how will she pull this off with little money and no organization? Asked who was carrying her signature petitions to get on the ballot, a complex, legalistic effort that has thwarted many an insurgent, Darling replied, "My team," adding, "We have very motivated community leaders."

Darling said that right now she is focused on "smiling and dialing" to raise money. Darling said there were "slight grumblings" by some Democrats that a primary campaign attacking Gillen would hurt the party’s larger effort to keep the seat blue. "They say she has a bigger war chest," she said of Gillen.

Darling, who presumes her GOP opponent will be D’Esposito, looking to reclaim the seat he lost in 2024, laughed when asked if the Nassau County Republican Party was encouraging her candidacy. "Any excitement from the GOP is because I am a bridge builder who will work with them," she said.

Darling said she is making the run because she missed public service. Others had a somewhat different interpretation. "She’s feeling she is out of it and she’s hungry to get back in," said one of LI’s top political operatives. Another leading Democrat put it down to Darling's ego. "She thought she was a rock star and then she was nowhere." But a third said Gillen created the opening "by not getting her message" out about what she has done for the district and for not maintaining ties with the Black community.

— Rita Ciolli rita.ciolli@newsday.com

Talking Point

The Corridor Counts is counting Gillen out

Powerful advocate and attorney Fred Brewington and his community group, The Corridor Counts, haven’t decided which CD4 candidate they’ll support yet — but it won’t be Rep. Laura Gillen.

The advocates could make their decision after the group’s next meeting on Thursday, Brewington told The Point.

"We’ve examined her voting record and her statements and the community organizations that have come together to review them find she cannot satisfactorily continue to represent the corridor communities of the 4th Congressional District," Brewington said Tuesday.

When asked if he’d support former Assemb. Taylor Darling, the newest entrant into the primary, Brewington said: "She’s not the only one primarying Gillen."

Among the other announced challengers are Kiana Bierria-Anderson, Gian Jones and Nicholas Jude Sciretta.

Brewington said he was concerned that village officials and state Democratic Party chair Jay Jacobs have already endorsed Gillen, a move he called "premature."

Brewington said the community’s concerns about Gillen began when she voted last year to censure Texas Rep. Al Green after he protested during President Donald Trump’s address to Congress, but have continued since.

"Her actions thereafter have not demonstrated a clear understanding of the needs of the residents of the 4th Congressional District," Brewington said.

Brewington said Anderson, Jones and Darling have each met with members of The Corridor Counts. For Thursday's meeting, it has invited "a couple of candidates to come back and talk to us," Brewington said.

He would not specify which candidates were invited to that follow-up discussion. But other sources have told The Point Darling will be one of those candidates.

Beyond the conversations with The Corridor Counts, Darling has already started the politicking process. One source told The Point that Darling showed up to the annual legislative conference for the State Legislature’s Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian caucus in Albany this past weekend, where she was "very present and conspicuous," even getting her moment in the spotlight onstage as a former lawmaker.

This also isn’t the first time The Corridor Counts group has taken a primary position that goes against the grain. The group supported Adam Haber in the Nassau County executive race in 2013, when Haber challenged Tom Suozzi. Suozzi won the Democratic nomination, but lost the general election to incumbent Ed Mangano.

But that 2013 race had even more complexities that echo a bit in this year’s CD4 campaign. Freeport Mayor Andrew Hardwick entered the race that August, with backing and funding in part from Oheka Castle owner Gary Melius, primarily a GOP supporter. At the time, observers said a campaign by Hardwick, who is Black, could take votes, particularly those in Black and brown communities, away from Suozzi. That in turn could boost Haber, giving a potentially weaker Democratic candidate the primary nod, and leading to an easier victory for Mangano. A source told The Point that the push in favor of Darling comes in part to create a broader narrative against Gillen, not dissimilar to the Hardwick effort.

During her time in the Assembly, Darling made some unusual waves of her own, telling The Point in 2021, for instance, that she hadn’t gotten the COVID-19 vaccine because she was pregnant, and had no plans to get the vaccine going forward, saying she wants her constituents "to do your due diligence."

And Darling has close connections to key Republican players.

When Darling challenged Siela Bynoe in a State Senate primary in 2024, big-time GOP donor and then-Nassau University Medical Center Chairman Matthew Bruderman loudly backed Darling during a raucous employee town hall just months before the primary.

"She’s a Black Democrat from this area. You guys know Taylor? We’re going to do the naughty-nice list now," Bruderman said in March 2024. "Taylor Darling is running for State Senate. I encourage every single person to vote for Taylor. She’s a Democrat."

When employees pushed back, saying Darling hadn’t helped the hospital, while Bynoe — who ultimately won the Senate seat — had, Bruderman protested.

"Why am I picking and choosing two African American women of color that are running for Democratic office? Why did I give Taylor money?" Bruderman asked. "For me. I gave her money because she’s doing what’s right."

Bruderman donated $5,000 to Darling during the primary campaign. As of the January campaign filings, Darling had $7,483 in her State Senate campaign account.

Darling, meanwhile, supported the work Bruderman and then-interim chief executive Megan Ryan were doing at the hospital, saying in early 2024 that NUMC’s management difficulties were "a moment of the past."

— Randi F. Marshall randi.marshall@newsday.com

Pencil Point

Polishing the sentence

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