The race for Nassau County executive is this fall, and unsurprisingly, the local GOP is done with two-term incumbent Ed Mangano. Last fall, Mangano was indicted on federal corruption charges, and his trial isn’t scheduled until after the election. A few days ago Jack Martins, a former New York state senator, announced that he would run to lead this huge Long Island county, and he almost immediately earned the endorsement of the county's Republican Executive Committee. Mangano’s team still insists he hasn’t decided if he’ll seek re-election this fall, but he doesn’t seem to have many allies left. The party primary is in September, but Republican leaders may have scared off any other notable candidates.
Nassau County backed Hillary Clinton 51-45 last year, not much of a drop from Barack Obama’s 53-46 win four years before. The GOP dominated local politics for decades, but corruption and infighting helped weaken what was once one of the most powerful Republican parties anywhere. (For more, check out Steve Kornacki’s excellent 2011 article). In 2001, Democrat Tom Suozzi broke the GOP’s stronghold on the county executive’s office, and won re-election four years later. But in 2009, with the Great Recession hurting Democrats nationwide, Mangano narrowly unseated Suozzi in an utter shocker. Despite the county’s considerable financial problems, Mangano won their 2013 rematch 59-41. Suozzi himself revived his political career last year by defeating none other than Jack Martins 53-47 in an open seat contest for New York’s 3rd Congressional District.
While Martins was the only credible Republican running for that House seat, he didn’t raise a massive amount of money. National Republicans ended up canceling their ad reservations about a month before Election Day as polls showed Suozzi ahead, though Martins and Donald Trump ended up losing the 3rd District by an almost identical 6-point margin. Martins kicked off his county executive bid by pledging to stabilize the county’s still considerable financial woes, and he noted that he immediately called for Mangano’s resignation last year. However, local Democrats immediately sought to link Martins to another notorious Nassau County Republican by noting that when then-state Senate leader Dean Skelos was indicted for corruption in 2015, Martins defended him (Skelos was later convicted).
Democrats are hoping that after eight chaotic years with the GOP back in charge, Nassau voters will send a Democrat to the county executive’s office this November. At the beginning of the year, the Nassau Democratic Committee endorsed county Legislator Laura Curran. However, Assemblyman Charles Lavine and county Comptroller George Maragos, a former Republican who switched parties last year, are continuing on into the September primary.