Democrat Laura Gillen wins US House seat on Long Island, unseating GOP incumbent

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Democrat Laura Gillen has defeated U.S. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito in a congressional race on Long Island, flipping a third House seat in New York for Democrats to partially reverse a red wave that washed over suburban and rural parts of the state during the last election.

The Associated Press called the race on Thursday.

Gillen had also run against D’Esposito in 2022 but narrowly lost in a district just outside New York City that President Joe Biden had won by 15 points two years earlier.

This time, Gillen, who is an attorney, adjunct law professor and former Hempstead town supervisor, came away with a triumph in the Long Island suburbs. A year ago, the GOP held all four House seats representing the island. Now, each party holds two.

Gillen had declared victory on Election Night, before the AP determined the winner, saying she was committed to bipartisan cooperation.

“This coalition resonated with a simple message: enough of the chaos, enough of the corruption — let’s work together, Democrats and Republicans, to address the pressing issues we face,” she said in a statement. “As the representative for this district, I will work every day to reach across the aisle, cut through the noise, and bridge our divides.”

Her victory added to a bright spot for Democrats in New York in a bruising election, given Republican Donald Trump's presidential win and the GOP claiming control of the Senate.

Two other Republican freshmen, besides D'Esposito, were also denied a second House term in New York.

In upstate New York, Democrat John Mannion defeated Republican U.S. Rep. Brandon Williams, whose district centered around the city of Syracuse had been redrawn this year in a way that was unfavorable for the GOP.

Democrat Josh Riley, an attorney, also defeated Republican U.S. Rep. Marc Molinaro in a district that sprawls from the Hudson Valley across the Catskill Mountains to the Finger Lakes region.

With those three seat flips, the state's congressional delegation is now made up of 19 Democrats and seven Republicans. As recently as last year, 11 of the state's representatives in Congress were Republican. Those gains began to erode, though, when Republican George Santos was expelled from Congress after being charged with fraud, and was subsequently replaced by Democrat Tom Suozzi in a special election.

New York Democrats sought to avoid a repeat of their losses in the last election cycle by rebooting the party’s campaign apparatus and beefing up staffing in the battleground districts to do more voter outreach. Democratic national political groups also devoted more resources to the New York races this time, according to Jay Jacobs, chair of the New York State Democratic Committee.

“That was the difference from 2022. In 2022, national money was just not sent to New York. New York was taken for granted, so we didn’t have the types of campaigns or resources that we had this year,” Jacobs said.

Democratic candidates also geared campaign messaging more toward moderate voters, while warning that a Republican-controlled Congress might try to ban abortion.

The mood among Democrats in New York was muted, however, given Trump's win. Gov. Kathy Hochul congratulated her party's winners at a news conference Wednesday, but struck a somber tone as she pledged to fight Trump's policy agenda.

“We’ll need all of them fighting on our behalf in Washington, now more than ever,” Hochul said.

U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler, a rising GOP star who's made a name for himself on the cable television circuit, won a second term in a race against former U.S. Rep. Mondaire Jones. U.S. Rep. Nick LaLota maintained Republican dominance on eastern Long Island, defeating former Democrat John Avlon, a former CNN analyst.

Ed Cox, chair of the New York Republican Party, said in a statement that voters who picked Republicans had sent a clear message that “they’ve had enough of the chaos, the crushing taxes, the crime, out-of-control spending and the erosion of our rights.”

“The people demanded change, and last night, Republicans delivered," he said.