Losquadro Wins Tight Brookhaven Highway Chief Race

In a race that gained significant attention following Brookhaven's disastrous response to the Feb. 8 blizzard, State Assemb. Dan Losquadro, R-Shoreham, beat town councilwoman Kathy Walsh, scoring 51 percent of the vote with 294 out of 295 precincts reporting.

According to Newsday, Walsh conceded the election at campaign event in Medford.

As of 10:56 p.m., 23,501 residents turned out at the polls, voting 12,169 to 11,332 in favor of Losquadro, according to Suffolk County Board of Elections results, a low turnout considering the town has close to 300,000 registered voters.

Losquadro was named Brookhaven's Republican candidate early in January. Walsh, formerly a Republican, changed party affiliations and registered as an Independence party member after the Republican committee went with Losquadro as its candidate. She was later endorsed by the Brookhaven Democratic Committee to run on that party line in the highway superintendent race.

The vacancy was created after former highway superintendent John Rouse was voted in as a county judge.

Losquadro won Tuesday despite attempts by several write-in candidates to score votes away from the candidates. Losquadro may also have staved off a push from gun rights supporters to back Walsh as retaliation for the assemblyman's vote for the New York's strict new gun control law.

The win for Losquadro sets up a special election to fill his Assembly seat; he was re-elected to his state post this past November.

The highway superintendent race gained more attention in the aftermath of the blizzard in February, during which the town was widely criticized for leaving many streets unplowed for days.