Democrat Laura Gillen declared victory with only a narrow margin early Wednesday — while first-term Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito refused to concede the race for his Long Island congressional seat.
Gillen led with 182,506 votes to D’Esposito’s 176,426 with 98% of districts reporting, preliminary tallies from Tuesday’s election show.
“It’s time to turn a new leaf,” Gillen said, declaring victory at the Nassau County Democratic watch party. “It’s time to get Congress back to work again for everyday people. It’s time to stop pointing fingers and start getting the work done and reaching across the aisle and solving the problems that we need solved.
“I look forward to humbly serving every constituent of this district It doesn’t matter if you’re an R or a D or an I, I’m here to work for all of you.”
Minutes earlier, D’Esposito — a retired NYPD cop — refused to call it, telling his supporters from the Nassau County Republicans watch party that, “we knew this was gonna be a tough race.”
“We are ready to go to the mat and I am hopeful that as soon as we get the results, there will continue to be a Republican representing the Fourth Congressional District,” he said before walking off stage.
Chair of the New York State Democratic Committee Jay Jacobs brushed off D’Esposito refusal to concede as “on brand” for the politician.
“I understand look it’s hard to lose a congressional seat on a human level I feel badly for him but at the end of the day Laura Gillen will be the congresswoman and she will be sworn in and that’s all that counts,” Jacobs said.
The race for the 4th Congressional District running from the island’s South Shore through central Nassau County was bitter, as D’Esposito sought a second term and Gillen hoped a win would help Democrats take control of the US House.
There were no crazy lines for voters at Hempstead Village Hall before 11 a.m. Tuesday, but a steady flow of locals came through to cast their ballots.
“I voted for [Laura] Gillen because she’s a Democrat and I’m a Democrat. I had to pick the lesser of two evils,” one woman, a retired nurse from Nassau University Medical Center who declined to give her name, told The Post.
Joseph Nicolas, 67, a retired plumber, told The Post he’s voting for Esposito for the “good of Long Island.”
“He’s done a great job,” Nicolas said while waiting to vote at Lawrence Middle School.
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The pair duked it out in 2022, when D’Esposito won by just 3.6 points.
A late poll showed a tight race after others predicted a wide Gillen victory as D’Esposito battled accusations he hired an alleged mistress.
D’Esposito, for his part, tried to tie Gillen to President Biden’s border policies and blasted her record as the town of Hempstead’s supervisor. He accused her of being soft on crime.
— Additional reporting by Desheania Andrews and Olivia Land
