A former CNN anchor and a retired chemistry professor face off in a Democratic Primaries to pick a challenger to U.S. Rep. Nick LaLota in a congressional district on eastern Long Island that has been in Republican hands for a decade.
John Avlon, who was a senior political analyst at CNN, is running in Tuesday’s election against Nancy Goroff, a professor emeritus at Stony Brook University. She was the Democratic candidate in the district in 2020, but lost by about 10 percentage points.
Democrats have made the suburban New York district a priority this year in their bid to regain the majority in the House of Representatives. It is one of several districts in the reliably Democratic states of new York and California that are seen as crucial to your chances.
The race could depend on personality and voters’ opinions about which candidate gives Democrats the best chance of winning. Their positions on political issues are so similar that a local newspaper, The East Hampton Star, titled your story about a recent debate between them: “Avlon and Goroff Debate, Largely Agree”.
Many Democrats, including local officials and sitting members of Congress, lined up behind Avlon as a fresh face who might have a better chance of unseating LaLota, the Republican incumbent.
“Republicans didn’t think they would have to fight in this district,” Avlon said in an interview. “They didn’t think they would have a real fight on their hands and now they do.”
But Goroff isn’t rolling. She loaned $1.2 million to her own campaign, according to federal records. Her allies also tried to attack Avlon for his early career work as a speechwriter in Rudy Giuliani’s office when he was mayor of New York City.
She said she is confident a Democrat can win the district, which stretches from the sandy Hamptons on the eastern tip of Long Island more than 80 miles west to the outer ring of suburban suburbs east of New York City.
“I think it’s very purple and we’re working to make sure that in this district we activate people who want to see someone who is working hard,” Goroff said in an interview. “Whether it’s Democrats or Republicans, they’re looking for someone who is really willing to do the work.”
The question that arises after the primaries is whether a Democrat can take back a Republican’s seat.
President Joe Biden won the district in 2020 by a very slim margin, but Democratic state lawmakers slightly changed its borders earlier this year to make it a little more Republican, potentially giving other Democrats on the island a better opportunity to win. your races.
Since losing his 2020 election bid to then-U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, Goroff has helped start an advocacy group that organizes around politically tense school board races. Her campaign says she helped successfully defeat 20 right-wing candidates.
Avlon is best known for his time as a CNN personality, but he also worked as an editor at The Daily Beast, an online news site. He also helped create the centrist political group No Labels and authored books on political polarization.
Both Democrats favor protecting abortion rights and warn against what a Republican-controlled federal government could do to restrict women’s reproductive rights more broadly. His criticisms of LaLota are similar, characterizing the freshman congressman as too deferential to Donald Trump and more interested in political stardom than getting legislation across the board.
Both candidates point to a number of explanations for why Republicans have thrived in recent elections on Long Island, which has been receptive to conservative candidates in recent elections. Their explanations include lagging Democratic turnout, the strength of certain candidates and voters’ fears that crime in New York City will spread to the suburbs.
In a statement, LaLota said, “While they fight to see who can appease the far left the most, I am focused on putting results above rhetoric and fighting for the community I grew up in.”
One exception to the Republicans’ success was the recent special election in a congressional district once represented by George Santos, which includes parts of the New York borough of Queens and northern Long Island. In that race, Democrat Tom Suozzi, an established political figure in the area, defeated a lesser-known Republican, Mazi Pilip. He did so in part by running a centrist campaign that Democrats hope to replicate in other suburban races in the fall.
Avlon hopes to duplicate this winning formula. He talks frequently about how Democrats need to appeal to moderate and independent voters, as well as some Republicans who have become dissatisfied with the Republican Party under Trump.
“There’s a reason I’m running as a common-sense Democrat,” he said. “In any swing district, the candidate and party that takes the center will win.”
Ed Cox, chairman of the New York Republican Party, said it will be difficult for a Democrat to win on the island this year, especially in this district, given its shift to the Republican Party over the last decade and its more Republican-friendly configuration. after redistricting.
“Long Island is once again a Republican stronghold,” he said.
