The Sierra Club's grassroots volunteer activists considered candidates' records, reviewed responses to our questionnaire, and interviewed those willing to meet with us. Our list of those we have endorsed in Long Island races is below. If you'd like to get involved in one of the races in your area, reach out to the campaign today! Contacts for each campaign can be found here. 
 

          SIERRA CLUB RECOMMENDED CANDIDATES FOR 2026

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Nassau County

 

US Congress NY Dist. 3 – Tom Suozzi (Dem.): Representative Suozzi has been a committed environmental advocate throughout his long tenure in public office, which includes service as Mayor of the City of Glen Cove and Nassau County Executive, along with five terms in Congress. Last year, Suozzi helped to secure more than $11 million of federal funding for clean water projects across Long Island and Queens. He has also been instrumental in obtaining millions of dollars of federal funds to protect the waters of Long Island Sound and remediate the severe environmental contamination at the former Gruman – Navy industrial complex in Bethpage. In 2025, he introduced the CIRCLE Act (Cultivating Investment in Recycling and Circular Local Economies) in Congress, a bipartisan bill designed to modernize the country’s aging recycling systems by providing tax and other financial incentives for public and private investment in new and upgraded recycling facilities. Suozzi has a lifetime 95% environmental scorecard from the League of Conservation Voters and, in 2025, the League’s New York Chapter honored him with its prestigious Clean Water Champion Award in recognition of his impressive record of protecting Long Island’s precious water resources and its broader environment.

  

US Congress NY Dist. 4 – Laura Gillen (Dem.): Gillen is an attorney with extensive litigation experience and a former Town of Hempstead Supervisor who is serving her first term in Congress. During her tenure as Hempstead Supervisor, she oversaw the restoration of the  Town’s water testing facility, which was badly damaged during Superstorm Sandy, she had the Town commence litigation against several large companies that produce products containing  toxic “forever chemicals,” such as 1,4 dioxane and PFAS, to recoup the expenses related to the installation of filtration systems to remove these chemicals from the Town’s water supply, and she significantly expanded the Town’s shellfish hatchery which allowed large numbers of oysters and clams to be added to the Town’s waterways in order to increase coastal resiliency and filter pollutants. In Congress, Gillen introduced or co-sponsored a number of bills to protect the environment, including the Coastal Infrastructure Improvement Act, which is bipartisan legislation that will prevent coastal erosion and enhance coastal ecosystems, legislation to extend New York’s Clean Pass program for low-emission and electric vehicles, and the PFAS National Drinking Water Standard Act, to codify the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2024 regulation establishing maximum contaminant levels for six of the most hazardous PFAS chemicals in public drinking water systems.

  

NY Senate Dist. 5 – Andrew Piddoubny (Dem.): Piddoubny is an attorney presently employed in the New York State court system. He has been active on environmental issues in his community and is making his first campaign for elective office. Piddoubny believes that the  most important environmental issue confronting the 5th Senate District is the protection of the single-source aquifer system that supplies drinking water to Nassau County. He has met with government officials to learn more about the serious groundwater contamination at the former Grumman – Navy industrial complex in Bethpage and advocate for expedited remediation at that site.  If elected to the Senate he will support robust funding of the State’s Environmental Protection Fund and Clean Water Infrastructure Act, which provide critical resources for local water quality improvements. Piddoubny also strongly supports the clean energy goals of New York’s Climate Leadership and Protection Act.  In the Senate he will push for modernization of the State’s electric grid and expanded funding for energy efficiency upgrades to homes and businesses, community solar, energy storage and transportation electrification.

 

NY Senate Dist. 7 – Rory Lancman (Dem.): Lancman is an attorney with an impressive record of public service, including three terms in the State Assembly and stints as Special Counsel for Ratepayer Protection in the New York State Department of Public Service and Executive Director of the New York State Legislative Commission on the Future of the Long Island Power Authority. In the latter position, he oversaw the Commission’s review of LIPA’s environmental and climate related obligations, including renewable energy integration, energy transmission and distribution modernization, storm hardening and long-term system planning in a coastal and climate-vulnerable region. He also led the Commission’s work on grid reliability and storm resilience. Lancman believes that the most important issues facing his Senate district are protecting the quality of its surface waters and sub-surface aquifers and strengthening its resilience against climate change, including increasingly common severe weather events. In the Senate he will work to increase investments in resilient infrastructure and restoring wetlands. He also strongly supports the goals of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. He will prioritize coordinated planning across utilities and municipalities to accelerate building electrification, expand heat pump adoption and improve energy efficiency in both new construction and existing buildings.

 

NY Assembly Dist. 14 – John Brooks (Dem.): Brooks previously served several terms in the State Senate, where he established a strong environmental record. In the Senate, he was a sponsor of important water quality legislation, including the Clean Water Infrastructure Act, which provided a $2.5 billion investment in drinking water infrastructure and water quality protection, legislation to protect Long Island’s Lloyd Aquifer, and legislation establishing the South Nassau Water Authority, which works to provide safe and affordable drinking water to Long Island’s South Shore communities. In the Assembly, he will continue to prioritize the protection of Long Island’s water resources by working to reduce contamination by PFAS and other “forever chemicals,” expand water quality monitoring, accelerate the clean-up of contaminated industrial sites, and restore the health and aquatic populations of our bays and  other waterways.  Brooks is also a strong supporter of the renewable energy goals of New York’s Climate Act and he will work to streamline permitting for responsible clean energy projects that help the environment and create good jobs, modernize Long Island’s electric grid, and strengthen energy efficiency programs that help homeowners and small businesses to reduce both energy consumption and utility costs.

 

NY Assembly Dist. 15 – Dean Tarulli (Dem.): Tarulli is a marine scientist who has spent his entire career in environmental regulation, permitting and coastal resilience infrastructure. He currently serves as Deputy Director of Coastal Resilience for the New York City Department of Design and Construction, and he wants to use his technical knowledge and experience to encourage the State Assembly to embrace the most effective science-backed remedies for the serious environmental issues confronting Long Island and the entire State. Tarulli believes that the most pressing environmental issue facing his Assembly District is the quality and sufficiency of its groundwater resources. He supports expanded State and county investment in providing sewer service to more properties, additional funding for treatment infrastructure to remove  PFAS/ PFOA from drinking water, sustained oversight and remediation funding to remediate toxic industrial sites that threaten groundwater and stronger monitoring and aquifer recharge initiatives to address saltwater intrusion into groundwater supplies. He also strongly supports the renewable energy goals of New York’s Climate Act and he believes that these goals must be pursued in a way that pairs clean energy build-outs with real attention to ratepayer affordability and utility cost oversight. 

 

NY Assembly Dist. 16 – Kim Keiserman (Dem.): Keiserman is an educational consultant and political and environmental activist. She is Co-President of the Baxter’s Pond Foundation, a non-profit organization that works with Nassau County to maintain and improve a water resource and public green space located in the heart of Port Washington, with an emphasis on maintaining a balanced ecosystem that includes many native plant species and serves as a vital watershed. She is also a Commissioner of the Town of North Hempstead Housing Authority, where she works to expand affordable housing resources within the Town. Keiserman states that the protection of Long Island’s surface and sub-surface water resources is one of her primary environmental concerns and, in the Assembly, she will work to obtain expanded funding for septic replacement programs, sewer expansion projects, aggressive testing and remediation of PFAS contamination and sustainable water management practices to address over-withdrawal and saltwater intrusion of groundwater resources. She is also a strong supporter of responsibly sited renewable energy projects on Long Island, including offshore wind and battery energy storage, as well as expanded incentives for energy-efficient building retrofits, heat pumps, insulation upgrades and rooftop solar installations.

 

NY Assembly Dist. 21 – Judy Griffin (Dem.): Griffin is serving her third term in the State Assembly where she has established a solid environmental record representing her southern Nassau County district.  She’s been actively involved in a number of community initiatives, including Operation Splash, where volunteers dedicate their time to cleaning up local bays, waterways and shorelines, and the Brookside Preserve Community, comprised of volunteers who work to maintain and improve this beautiful public open space in the Village of Freeport. In the current Assembly term, Griffin has actively supported a number of important environmental measures. She was a sponsor of the original Data Center Moratorium legislation and a strong supporter of the ultimately approved Responsible Data Cener Development Act, which pauses  the development of large data centers until their potential impacts on the environment and utility bills can be adequately analyzed. She was also instrumental in the recent passage of  amendments to New York’s Energy Performance Contacts legislation, which will make it easier for schools to pay for energy-efficiency upgrades through future energy savings, rather than major upfront expenditures, by extending the recovery period for school energy performance contracts from 18 to 25 years. Finally, in the current State budget she helped to secure a grant of $3.5 million to Freeport Village for flood mitigation and improvements to the Cow Meadow Park Marina.

 

NY Assembly Dist. 22 – Michaelle Solages (Dem.): Solages has represented the residents of her western Nassau County Assembly district since 2013 and, since taking office, has been a strong advocate for environmental legislation and robust funding for environmental programs, particularly with respect to renewable energy and protection of Long Island’s water resources through contamination reduction and clean water infrastructure projects. She sponsored the Healthy Homes Right to Know Law, which requires clear labeling information for new gas stoves regarding their potentially toxic emissions and the importance of proper ventilation, and legislation to strengthen the voice of residential customers in Public Service Commission proceedings. She also supported bills to provide water utilities with better access to water quality infrastructure improvement funding, to permit higher density residential development on land located within a half mile of a covered public transit facility, and to include environmental pollution mitigation projects among the authorized powers of industrial development agencies. For 2025, Solages had environmental scorecards of 92% from the League of Conservation Voters and 86% from Environmental Advocates.

 

Nassau Co. Legislature Dist. 5 – Olena Nicks (Dem.): After years of community service in voluntary positions, Nicks was elected to the Nassau County Legislature in 2025 and has rapidly demonstrated a strong commitment to the environment. She is the lead sponsor of a proposed local law establishing Nassau County’s first comprehensive regulatory framework for e-bikes, e- scooters and related micromobility devices, which is designed to give residents the clarity and safety assurances required to allow them to confidently choose lower-emission personal vehicles. She has also been working on several plastic reduction initiatives, including a Nassau County version of “Skip the Stuff,” which would require food service businesses to provide plastic utensils, condiment containers and similar items only when specifically requested by the customer, thereby reducing single-use plastic waste. Finally, Nicks has partnered with civic associations across her legislative district on community plantings and neighborhood clean-ups, which reflects her belief that lasting environmental awareness and improvements are built block by block and that neighborhood residents are the strongest stewards of the spaces they share. 

 

Nassau Co. Legislature Dist. 6 – Debra Mulé (Dem.): Environmental protection has been at the heart of her agenda since Mulé joined the Nassau County Legislature since 2018.  She co- sponsored a county-wide ban on most single-use Styrofoam products which was enacted with bipartisan support. At Freeport’s Brookside Preserve, she joined forces with local environmental advocates to expose the appalling degree to which the County administration has allowed this natural treasure to deteriorate and demand that the administration follows through with needed repairs and accepts the South Shore Conservation Society’s offer to clean and maintain the Preserve at no cost to taxpayers. After a large sinkhole that occurred in 2023 in the hamlet of Baldwin resulted in the infiltration of raw sewage into a nearby stream, killing many fish and aquatic wildlife, Mulé has worked on an ongoing basis to make infrastructure resiliency a top legislative priority and she was instrumental in the passage of a FY25 capital infrastructure plan that increases funding for resiliency projects in communities throughout Nassau County. She continues to be a strong supporter of the soon-to-be completed Bay Park Conveyance Project, which will redirect treated wastewater from the Bay Park treatment facility several miles to the Cedar Creek treatment facility, thereby significantly improving water quality and the health of marshlands in Reynolds Channel and Western Bays.

 

Nassau Co. Legislature Dist. 9 – Juleigh Chin (Dem.): Chin is a Community Outreach Program Manager for Northwell Health, where she develops and supports community wellness initiatives that focus on nutrition, preventative care and increasing access to healthy foods. This work has reinforced her belief that clean air, clean water and access to green spaces are essential components of healthy communities. She is a member of Northwell’s Green BERG (Business Employee Resource Group), which works to improve the environmental impact of Northwell’s operations by advancing sustainable and socially responsible initiatives across the organization. She is also a past President and current Trustee of the Herricks Board of Education, where she helps oversee long term planning and capital investments that prioritize safe, healthy and energy conscious learning environments for students. Chin believes that the most urgent environmental issue confronting her legislative district is the protection of its sole-source aquifer, which supplies all of its drinking water. In the Nassau Legislature, she will work to strengthen regulations to prevent harmful contaminants from entering the aquifer, invest in advanced water treatment systems, provide funding to assist local water authorities to detect and remove toxins from the water supply, and enforce strict controls on land use and development in proximity to recharge zones, wetlands and other vulnerable areas. She fully supports the renewable energy goals of New York’s Climate Act and will actively work to further clean energy projects such as off-shore wind, solar energy, battery storage, and improved energy efficiency in commercial and residential buildings, while ensuring that vulnerable and historically underserved communities are not left behind in New York’s transition to clean energy.

 

Nassau Co. Legislature Dist. 11 – Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (Dem.): DeRiggi-Whitton has been a member of the Nassau County Legislature since 2012 and has worked throughout her tenure to protect the water resources in her waterfront district and throughout Nassau County. She collaborated with City of Glen Cove officials to identify the source of waste contamination that resulted in the extended closure of Glen Cove’s Crescent Beach and helped to secure County resources to correct the problem. After years of concerted effort, the beach is once again open to swimmers. She has also worked to expand and modernize the County’s wastewater infrastructure and helped to secure millions of dollars in County funding to expand its Septic Environmental Program to Improve Cleanliness (SEPTIC), which helps property owners to replace obsolete polluting septic systems with state-of-the-art alternative wastewater treatment systems. DeRiggi-Whitton was a vocal opponent of the ill-conceived casino proposal for the Uniondale Hub / Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, which would have produced enormous social and environmental impacts, and she looks forward to working with stakeholders to  identify a more appropriate use of that property that will encourage responsible development  with minimal environmental impacts.

 

Oyster Bay Town Supervisor – Joseph Saladino (Rep.): After serving six terms in the State Assembly, Saladino has been Oyster Bay’s Town Supervisor since 2017 and, throughout his tenure, has been a strong environmental advocate. He has spearheaded the ongoing efforts to fully remediate contaminated soil at Bethpage Community Park after the discovery of buried chemical drums at that location and he has been unwavering in his efforts, which have included litigation commenced by the Town, to achieve a rapid and complete clean-up of the highly contaminated former U.S. Navy / Grumman industrial facility in Bethpage. During his tenure, the Town has strengthened and restored local ecosystems by introducing millions of clam and oyster seedlings into Oyster Bay Harbor, which helped it to achieve an “A” ranking for water quality from the Save the Sound organization. To further these efforts, Town engineers are currently developing plans to construct a new shellfish hatchery.  In addition, under Saladino’s leadership the Town has planted and maintained numerous new trees, thereby earning multiple Tree City USA designations from the Arbor Day Foundation, supported community-driven initiatives to protect Diamondback Terrapin turtles and expanded environmental education programs for residents of all ages.

 

Hempstead Town Supervisor – Joseph Scianablo (Dem.): Scianablo has spent his career serving the public, including service in the Marine Corps, the New York City Police Department and the Queens County District Attorney’s Office.  He believes that the surface and subsurface water resources of Hempstead and all of Long Island are under serious threat from pollution, poorly planned development and the effects of climate change. As Town Supervisor, he will work for expanded sewer infrastructure to reduce nitrogen pollution from outdated cesspools and septic systems, particularly near bays and estuaries. He will also support strict enforcement of groundwater protection zones, increased investments in stormwater management upgrades and stronger oversight of pesticide and fertilizer use. In addition, he favors moving toward public ownership of the Town’s water supply in order deliver water to residents and businesses more efficiently and affordably.  Scianablo strongly supports Long Island’s transition to clean renewable energy, including off-shore wind, solar and battery storage projects that are environmentally sound and responsibly sited. He will work to obtain grants, rebates and low- cost financing for heat pumps, geothermal systems, insulation and energy-efficient appliances so that working families can participate in the clean energy transition.

 

North Hempstead Town Supervisor – Sean McCarthy (Dem.): McCarthy has had a 33-year career in law enforcement and is the current Police Commissioner of the Port Washington Police District. He also sits on the Board of Directors of the North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center and is President of the Viking Sports Foundation. He is a strong supporter of energy conservation and the transition to clean renewable energy. At the helm of the Port Washington Police District, he is currently overseeing the construction of a new precinct facility that is LEED certified and adheres to the highest green building standards, with all-union labor. As Town Supervisor, he will work to bring that same standard to every town-owned building and capital project in North Hempstead. McCarthy will encourage and incentivize rooftop and commercial- scale solar installations and grid modernization to improve reliability and resilience throughout the town.  He supports the Propel NY project, which will make improvements to the region’s electric grid infrastructure to provide reliable and efficient power transmission, but also believes that the concerns of town residents regarding the impacts of the project should be thoroughly addressed. He also intends to seek more funding for mitigation of the significant shoreline erosion affecting the town and a long-overdue modernization of its sewer and water infrastructure.

 

 

Suffolk County

 

US Congress NY Dist. 1 – Christopher Gallant (Dem.): Gallant is seeking public office for the first time following distinguished service in the Army National Guard, which included multiple overseas deployments, a career in air traffic control, including service as a local president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, and service as a volunteer firefighter. He is running for a seat in Congress representing the east end of Long Island in order to oppose and help reverse the chaotic, corrupt and anti-democratic actions of the current federal administration.  In Congress, Gallant will fight to protect Long Island’s fragile environment from the impacts of climate change and rapid, often poorly planned development, with a focus on strengthening storm resilience and protecting its surface and ground water resources from the multiple threats that confront them. In light of his hands-on familiarity with many forms of technology, he will strive to ensure that scientific and technological expertise, including climate and environmental science, informs all aspects of the federal government’s legislative and administrative decision-making. His service as a veteran and union leader have taught him that leadership, including environmental leadership, must also be about justice, fairness and equity and he will fight to ensure that clean air and water, resilient infrastructure and safe neighborhoods are available to all, regardless of ZIP code or income level.

 

US Congress NY Dist. 2 – Patrick Halpin (Dem.): Halpin has had an impressive record of public service, which includes serving in the Suffolk County Legislature and the State Assembly and stints as Suffolk County Executive and Chair of the Suffolk County Water Authority. As County Executive, he created the Long Island Housing Partnership to expand housing options for families, seniors and veterans and he worked successfully to preserve and improve the county’s parks, wetlands, beaches and pine barrens. As Chair of the Water Authority, he led the  successful effort to increase minimum standards for water purity and took aggressive action to safeguard the county’s fragile sole-source aquifer. Among the reasons Halpin is running for Congress is to fight the current federal administration’s efforts to roll back the nation’s environmental protections and programs. In Congress, he will work to increase federal investments in renewable energy, climate resiliency and clean transportation for both the environmental benefits and the well-paying jobs that such investments will produce. In particular, he will seek increased funding for critically needed improvements to our energy grid and improvements and expansion of Long Island’s rail network in order to decrease our reliance on both private vehicles and freight hauling trucks.

 

NY Senate Dist. 4 – Monica Martinez (Dem.): Martinez is a former public-school teacher who is in her third term in the State Senate after having served two terms in the Suffolk County Legislature. Her tenure in elective office is marked by a strong environmental record. She believes that protecting the quality of its water resources is the most urgent environmental concern confronting her Senate district. She sponsored the recently approved Suffolk County Water Quality Restoration Act, which created a dedicated sales tax funding stream for sewer expansion projects and the replacement of obsolete cesspool and septic systems with advanced nitrogen reducing technology and she is continuing to work to ensure that the lower income communities in her district, which have historically received less government investment than other parts of Long Island, receive their appropriate share of this clean water funding. She has also secured State grant funding for projects such as the Advanced Oxidation Process system in North Amityville, which will remove 1,4 dioxane from the community’s water supply and she supports continued investment in aquifer recharge protections and smarter water withdrawal management in order to avoid saltwater intrusion into the aquifer. Martinez is a former Deputy Regional Director of the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and is a strong supporter of Long Island’s open space resources. In collaboration with the Trust for Public Land, she obtained $16.4 million in grant funding for the creation of a Greenway trail network throughout Long Island, including new developments in the Port Jefferson area.

 

NY Assembly Dist. 3 – Joshua Slaughter (Dem.): Slaughter is a union leader and the Long Island Political Director of the Mason Tenders District Council PAC, representing over 5000 union laborers on Long Island. He also has extensive experience as a legislative aide in the Suffolk County Legislature, a Board Member of the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency, and a political organizer and manager of political campaigns. Slaughter believes that one of the most pressing issues confronting his Assembly district, which runs along Suffolk County’s south shore, is the protection of its many low-lying areas from climate-related erosion and flooding. In the Assembly he will seek robust funding for restoring wetlands, stormwater management and managed retreat from the most vulnerable coastal areas. He will also work to protect Suffolk County’s ground water resources, with a focus on expanding the County’s sewer network and cleaning up the toxic plumes, including the unmitigated plume emanating from the Brookhaven Landfill, that threaten the water supply. Slaughter is a strong supporter of  renewable energy, and he will work to expand the development of off-shore wind infrastructure in the waters off Long Island and the construction of energy storage facilities on appropriate sites throughout Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

 

NY Assembly Dist. 4 – Rebecca Kassay (Dem.): Kassay has a background in environmental science and education and, during her first term in the State Assembly, has made protecting and preserving Long Island’s natural resources the focus of her work.  She sponsored a bipartisan bill, approved in both the Assembly and the Senate, that will significantly increase funding for New York’s Clean Water Septic System Replacement Fund and thereby allow more homeowners to install advanced nitrogen-reducing septic systems. This year, she helped pass legislation that authorizes and directs the establishment of a perpetual conservation easement over the 3.4 miles of Setauket-Port Jefferson Station Greenway, thereby eliminating the possibility of this open space corridor being converted to a roadway. As a member of the Assembly’s Environmental Conservation Committee, Kassay has worked to support investments in clean water, climate resilience, and environmental conservation through the State budget process and, in her district, has made environmental education and stewardship a cornerstone of the monthly community service projects coordinated through her office. Last September, she joined dozens of community volunteers in planting 40 native American Chestnut trees throughout her district to help restore this once abundant species to the local landscape.

 

NY Assembly Dist. 7 – Patricia Kopp (Dem.): Kopp had a long career as a public school art teacher and has extensive experience doing volunteer work on political campaigns. She believes that the most important issues confronting her Assembly district are the protection of its ground water and the health of the Great South Bay, which runs along the district and is degraded from nitrogen runoff and discharges of insufficiently treated wastewater, causing the near decimation of the bay’s shellfish populations.  To help protect ground water resources, she will focus on strengthening the regulation of PFAS and other “forever chemicals” that threaten water supplies, increasing funding for sewer expansions and replacing outdated cesspool and septic systems, and holding corporations more accountable for the industrial contamination of water supplies that they cause. With respect to the Great South Bay, she wants to explore the creation of a New York “blue carbon credit” system, similar to systems in other states, which would generate tradeable carbon credits for projects, such as the restoration of tidal marshes and seagrass meadows, that sequester carbon in bays and other waterways. Kopp will also work to address Long Island’s unsustainable solid waste management system by fighting for passage of State legislation that requires manufacturers to assume greater responsibility for the end-of-life disposal of their products and investments in modern recycling infrastructure.

 

NY Assembly Dist. 10 – Steve Stern (Dem.): Stern has served in the Assembly since 2018 and has established a consistently strong environmental record. During the current term, he has sponsored or supported a number of pro-environment initiatives, including inclusion in the State budget of $300 million for renewable energy projects, $525 million for clean water infrastructure improvements and $450 million for the State’s Environmental Protection Fund. He sponsored the recently approved Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) Resilience Amendment, which expands the State’s municipal sustainable energy loan program to provide financing for water efficiency projects, climate resiliency improvements and low-carbon building components. He also co-sponsored the Responsible Data Center Development Act, which has been passed by the Assembly and Senate and, upon final approval, will impose a one-year moratorium on permits for large, energy-intensive data centers and regulate the unchecked growth of AI infrastructure. For 2025, Stern has a 92% environmental scorecard from the League of Conservation Voters and a 100% scorecard from Environmental Advocates.

 

NY Assembly Dist. 12 – Craig Herskowitz (Dem.): Herskowitz is an attorney with broad experience in both government and the private sector, including service as an Assistant Counsel to the Governor. His Assembly district runs along the north shore of Suffolk County and he cites protection of both ground water resources and coastal waters as major district concerns. In the Assembly, he will support groundwater monitoring, accelerated sewer expansions, enhanced assistance for the replacement of outdated septic and cesspool systems, protection of wetlands and aquifer recharge areas and more aggressive enforcement against water polluters. Coastal communities in Herskowitz’s Assembly district, such as Northport, also experience erosion and frequent flooding and he will work to obtain greater State funding for green infrastructure to reduce runoff and environmentally sensitive coastal resiliency projects. He strongly supports the goals of New York’s Climate Act, including building electrification, rooftop and canopy solar infrastructure, battery storage and grid upgrades. He also believes that the renewable energy transition must be accomplished in a way that is affordable to working households, for example, by making it less burdensome to weatherize homes and providing financial support for electrification of low- and moderate-income households.

 

East Hampton Town Supervisor – Kathee Burke-Gonzalez (Dem.): Burke-Gonzalez has served on the East Hampton Town Board since 2014 and was elected Town Supervisor in 2023. During her tenure in office, she has established a strong record on the environment, including water quality protection, coastal resiliency and open space preservation. In 2025 alone, the Town approved 174 applications under its septic incentive program, which provides financing for modern, nitrogen-reducing septic systems that protect groundwater, ponds, bays and harbors. Through its Community Preservation Fund Water Quality Program, the Town has invested almost $10 million across 55 projects designed to capture and treat storm water runoff before it enters sensitive waterways. During her tenure as Town Supervisor, East Hampton has committed nearly $28 million over 30 years to protect the Montauk community from flooding and other climate-related impacts, focusing on dune restoration and strengthening natural defenses over time rather than undertaking repeated emergency repairs. In 2025, the Town preserved more than 36 acres of open space. Today, East Hampton manages more than 5,800 acres of protected open space, preserving wildlife habitats, supporting local agriculture and ensuring public access for future generations.