By Akeem Mellis
On an election day where voter turnout was light, Democrats struggled to hold onto their narrow 10-9 majority in the Nassau County Legislature, the spotlight focused on the tightest race of the night in the 14th District between Legis. Dave Mejias and Joseph Belesi. However, many avoided the polls due to the rainy weather and the fact it was an off-year election.
On Wednesday, Mejias (D-Massapequa), who lost his bid for Congress against Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) in 2006, led Belesi, a retired Nassau County police sergeant running on the Republican ticket, 6,182 votes to 5,960 votes.
However, absentee ballots have yet to be counted, and, with such a small margin, the balance of power in the legislature may shift. That did not deter Mejias from declaring victory late Tuesday night. “This victory is particularly sweet because this is the most negative campaign I have ever been involved with,” Mejias said.
“With the recount, we’re going to take this guy out and he knows it,” Belisi said in an address to his supporters. The other two GOP targets were the 18th Legislative District and the 7th Legislative District, held by Legis. Diane Yatauro (D-Glen Cove) and Legis. Jeffrey Toback (D-Oceanside) respectively.
The two Democratic Nassau County Town Supervisors, Jon Kaiman of North Hempstead and John Venditto of Oyster Bay also were successful in their re-election bids.
In Hempstead Town, Republicans won all six key positions by comfortable margins, led by Supervisor Kate Murray, who won her race against Democrat Kevin Gorman, 68 percent to 32 percent. Town Clerk Mark Bonilla, Receiver of Taxes Donald Clavin Jr., and three town councilors also were victorious, gaining at least 60 percent of the vote.
In Suffolk County, the runaway re-election victory by Executive Steve Levy was the issue at the forefront of voters’ minds. With the endorsement of his party and a cross-endorsement by the Republicans, Levy was able to win his race with 96 percent of votes cast.
Democrats were able to extend their recently attained majority in the Legislature by one seat, with the 4th Legislative District switching control from Republicans to Democrats as Brian Beedenbender, an aide to Suffolk County Supervisor Steve Levy, defeated his challenger, former police officer Thomas Muratore, by four percentage points. The seat was vacated by Joseph Caracappa (R-Selden) due to term limits.
The win gives Democrats an 11-7 advantage, giving them a four-seat majority, after winning the majority in last year’s election for the first time in 20 years.
The GOP, however, was able to win the majority of the Long Beach City Council by winning all three contested seats in a historically Democratic stronghold. Long Beach voters rejected creating an office of the mayor, instead choosing to stay with the office of city manager. This is the second time Republicans held control of the council in recent years, their last turn in government coming in 2004 and 2005 before the Democrats returned to power.
Also, Democrats maintained their control over the Islip and Brookhaven Town Supervisors offices, as both incumbents-Phil Nolan and Brian Foley-became the first Democrats to win re-election in these two Republican strongholds in years.
“We were able to bring reform to this town two years ago and tonight was a reaffirmation and validation of our effort,” Foley said.