Gillen Faces D'Esposito For 4th Congressional District

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, NY — While this is an off-year midterm election nationally, there are some important local races to keep an eye on ahead of going to the polls on Nov. 8.

Major changes in Congress will happen on Long Island, including in the 4th District, where Kathleen Rice decided against seeking another term.

Instead, the Democrats have a familiar face on the ballot-- Laura Gillen, who hails from Rockville Centre, and is the former Town of Hempstead Supervisor. She is challenging Anthony D'Esposito, an Island Park native, who is a former NYPD detective and a current Town of Hempstead council member.

Following her primary win, Gillen told "Patch AM," that "my record as Town of Hempstead supervisor is still familiar to the voters in this 4th Congressional District, which is mostly the Town of Hempstead."

In separating herself from D'Esposito, Gillen said, "I was never on the company payroll for any kind of political party. He will do whatever he's told by his party. He is a political hack who has two no-show jobs funded by the taxpayers. I earned my living in the private sector."

However, D'Esposito's response on "Patch AM" in Sept. was: "Listen, if that's what we've come down to. She's running for United States Congress and her campaign has already fallen to name-calling, I'm going to take the higher road."

Despite the district currently being in the "blue," and the Cook Political Report placing it in the "Likely Democrat" column, D'Esposito, in the Sept. interview, was not phased.

"I think people in Nassau County, Democrats who are moderate, feel like they've lost their party because of the far left 'wokeness' that they've brought upon our communities," he said.

Gillen was the Town of Hempstead Supervisor for a historic two-year term when she defeated incumbent Anthony Santino in 2017, making her the first Democrat to win the office in more than a century.

She is a former lawyer, who earned her law degree from Georgetown University.