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 2024

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Nassau County

 

US Congress NY Dist. 3 – Tom Suozzi (Dem.):  Although he is both an attorney and a CPA, Suozzi has spent a substantial portion of his career in elective office.  He served as Mayor of the City of Glen Cove for 8 years (1994 - 2001) and as the Nassau County Executive for 8 years (2002 – 2009).  He is now serving his second stint in Congress, after representing New York’s 3rd District for 6 years, from 2017 through 2022.  Suozzi has demonstrated a strong commitment to environmental protection in each of his public positions.  While Glen Cove’s Mayor, he oversaw the successful clean-up of two Federal superfund sites, a New York State hazardous waste site, as well as several brownfields on Glen Cove’s waterfront.  The latter cleanup effort earned him praise from then Vice-President Al Gore, who named Glen Cove as one of 16 Brownfield Showcase Communities in the United States.  As Nassau County Executive, Suozzi implemented a $150 million environmental program to preserve open space, improve parkland, protect water resources and clean up brownfields.  He also supported transit-oriented development projects and the conversion of County vehicles to carbon-free or low carbon energy sources.  As a member of Congress, Suozzi helped to increase funding for the Navy Environmental Remediation Fund, which has been tapped to remediate environmental damage at the Grumman – Navy industrial site in Bethpage.  He also helped to obtain a dramatic increase in Federal funds for the protection of Long Island Sound, as well as funding for multiple Long Island projects to seed shellfish beds, reduce stormwater runoff, improve water infrastructure and promote wind energy.

 

US Congress NY Dist. 4 – Laura Gillen (Dem.):  Gillen is an attorney with extensive litigation experience and a former Supervisor of the Town of Hempstead, the largest township in the United States.  During her tenure as Hempstead Supervisor, Gillen undertook a number of environmental initiatives.  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 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.  Gillen states that in Congress she will work to hasten the nation’s transition to clean renewable energy in a way that benefits our environment and produces good jobs for American workers.  She will also seek to direct Federal resources toward the protection of her district, which abuts both the ocean and other waterways, from the negative impacts associated with climate change.

 

NY Senate Dist. 5 – Lisa Lin (Dem.):  Lin is a criminal law attorney who previously worked for the Legal Aid Society and is presently Supervising Attorney for the Queens County Criminal Court.  This is her first campaign for elective office.  Lin states that one of the most pressing environmental issues confronting the residents of her Senate district, which is located on the South Shore of Nassau County, is the impacts of climate change, particularly the increased risk of flooding and water damage.  If elected, she will work to direct more State resources to the mitigation of these risks, with an emphasis on natural mitigation measures, such as the restoration of degraded wetlands.   She is also concerned about the dangers associated with the many tainted industrial and commercial sites located in and around her district and she believes that more aggressive State action should be taken to require those responsible for this environmental damage to bear the costs of remediation.  Lin is a strong supporter of renewable energy, including wind and solar power and battery-based energy storage, and she promises to work strenuously to overcome the community resistance and the misinformation that has slowed the implementation of some important renewable projects.

 

NY Senate Dist. 7 – Kim Keiserman (Dem.):  Keiserman is an educational consultant and political and environmental activist who is making her first run for elective office, seeking to represent a Senate district located on the north shore of Nassau County.  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 Senate, she will work to obtain State support for badly needed repairs and upgrades to the sewer systems in her district and for regulatory and infrastructure actions to address the water pollutants carried by stormwater runoff.  She is also a strong supporter of renewable energy projects on Long Island, including essential battery energy storage systems.  She supported the recent defeat of an effort to adopt a one-year moratorium on new battery storage facilities in the Town of North Hempstead that contained no provisions to encourage the development of such facilities upon expiration of the moratorium.

 

NY Assembly Dist. 13 – Charles Lavine (Dem.):  Lavine has served in the Assembly since 2005, representing a district located in northern Nassau County, and, during his tenure, has been a strong and consistent environmental champion.  In the current Assembly term, he supported a number of important environmental initiatives, including the Clean Fuel Standard, the NY HEAT Act, the Just Energy Transition Act, the Birds and Bees Protection Act, the Lead Pipe Right to Know Act, and the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act.  He also supported bills to provide increased protection for the State’s Class “C” waterways, facilitate the removal of unwanted rechargeable batteries from the solid waste stream, require State-owned parking facilities to install and maintain a specific number of electric vehicle charging stations, and prohibit the use of certain dangerous substances, including talc, lead and mercury, in menstrual products.  For 2023, Lavine had 100% environmental scorecards from both the League of Conservation Voters and Environmental Advocates.

 

NY Assembly Dist. 14 – Ellen DeFrancesco (Dem.):  DeFrancesco is an educator, writer and community and environmental activist who is making her first run for elective office.  She maintains a website that shares articles and practical information about how households can function efficiently and sustainably, and she is active in the Long Island chapter of Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project, which works in the U.S. and internationally to strengthen and speed up the transition to renewable energy and mitigate the most severe global impacts of climate change.  DeFrancesco is a strong local advocate for renewable energy, particularly off-shore wind power, and is committed to fighting the misinformation that opponents of clean energy have disseminated to stymie or slow critical renewable projects.  While supportive of active engagement with local officials and communities regarding renewable projects, she states that she will not hesitate to support important projects, even in the face of strong local opposition.  She says that she will also support legislation aimed at reducing the amount of solid waste that is generated throughout the State, including food, textiles and single-use plastics, through strategies such as better packaging and increased composting and recycling.

 

NY Assembly Dist. 16 – Gina Sillitti (Dem.):  Sillitti was elected to the Assembly in 2020 after holding a number of non-elective positions in Nassau County government.  In her first two terms she has established a strong environmental record, with an emphasis on protecting Long Island's surface and sub-surface water resources.  Although most Nassau County properties are served by public sewers, a substantial number of properties in her North Hempstead district rely instead on obsolete, highly polluting septic and cesspool systems and she has helped to secure millions of dollars in State funding for new sewer hookups and sewer feasibility studies within her district.  She has also secured State assistance for the installation of state of the art, minimally polluting advanced septic systems on properties that are not slated for prompt sewer connections.  In addition, Sillitti has supported a number of important environmental bills, including the Climate Change Superfund Act, the New York HEAT Act, and the Just Energy Transition Act.  For 2023, Sillitti has 100% environmental scorecards from both the League of Conservation Voters and Environmental Advocates.

 

NY Assembly Dist. 20 – Tina Posterli (Dem.):  Posterli is a communications consultant who has worked for a number of non-profit organizations, including the City Harvest food rescue program, Hudson Riverkeeper and the Waterkeeper Alliance.  Prior to her present campaign for a seat in the State Assembly, she served one term on the Long Beach City Council, where she helped to approve and implement the soon-to-be completed Bay Park Conveyance Project, which will redirect treated wastewater for several miles, from the Bay Park Treatment Facility, which currently discharges 50 million gallons per day of treated wastewater into the degraded Reynolds Channel, to the Cedar Creek treatment facility ocean outfall pipe, thereby significantly improving water quality and marshland health in Reynolds Channel and the adjacent Western Bays and protecting nearby coastal communities from storm surges and sea level rise.  If elected to the State Assembly, Posterli will work to protect Long Island’s sub-surface aquifers from contamination associated with toxic chemicals and saltwater intrusion, provide additional funding to protect the many communities in her district that are vulnerable to the increased flooding and other water damage associated with climate change, and expand incentives for residential and commercial solar installations. 

 

NY Assembly Dist. 21 – Judy Griffin (Dem.):  Griffin is seeking to return to the Assembly after representing the residents of District 21, in southern Nassau County, for four years, between 2019 and 2022.  In her previous Assembly tenure, she established a strong environmental record, serving on the Environmental Conservation Committee and chairing the Commission on Toxic Substances and Hazardous Wastes.  She was instrumental in the passage of legislation to create and fund the South Nassau Water Authority, which placed the provision of water services in her district under municipal control in order to limit costs and improve water quality and customer service.  She also helped to secure Assembly passage of the Birds and Bees Protection Act, which prohibits the sale of dangerous neonicotinoid pesticides, insecticides and coated seeds, and was a strong supporter of the 2022 Environmental Bond Act, which is providing $4.2 billion for a variety of important environmental initiatives.  District 21, which abuts the south shore of Nassau County, has been impacted by coastal erosion and shoreline flooding associated with climate change and, upon her return to the Assembly, Griffin will work to secure State funding for coastal rehabilitation and flood risk protection projects.  She will also work to enact the stalled Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act, which will require companies to reduce the amounts of packaging they use and fund recycling programs.

 

NY Assembly Dist. 22 – Michaelle Solages (Dem.):  Solages has represented the residents of her western Nassau County district since 2013 and she currently chairs the Assembly’s Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Legislative Caucus.  Since taking office, she has been a strong advocate for environmental legislation and robust funding for environmental programs, particularly with respect to renewable energy and the protection of Long Island’s water resources through contamination reduction and clean water infrastructure projects.  She has also been a forceful voice for environmental initiatives to prevent disadvantaged communities from bearing the brunt of environmental hazards.  Solages led the successful effort to create the Timbuctoo Climate Science and Careers Summer Initiative, which is sponsored by the State College of Environmental Science and Forestry and provides high school sophomores and juniors from marginalized communities with residential summer programs focused on environmental science and social justice issues.  For 2023, Solages had 100% environmental scorecards from both the League of Conservation Voters and Environmental Advocates.

 

 

Suffolk County

 

US Congress NY Dist. 1 – John Avlon (Dem.):  Avlon is a journalist and author who has reported extensively on environmental issues and is now making his first run for elective office.  His eastern Long Island Congressional district is surrounded by waterways and is already significantly impacted by the negative effects of climate change, including coastal erosion and storm damage and threats to the water supply.  If elected to Congress, he will work to obtain Federal funds for environmentally sensitive projects in his district that increase coastal resiliency and protect water quality.  In particular, he will support granting tax deductions to businesses and families that make environmentally appropriate investments in climate resiliency.  Avlon will also work to ensure that his district and all of Long Island receive their fair share of Federal infrastructure funds, much of which, he believes, should be used to make improvements to the region’s transit system, including high-speed electrified rail service.  In addition, he wants to provide Federal support for new housing based on “smart growth” principles, including building housing units on existing strip malls and other underutilized commercial properties, in order to help working families remain on Long Island while preserving open space and agricultural land.

 

NY Assembly Dist. 4 – Rebecca Kassay (Dem.):   Kassay is the Deputy Mayor of the Village of Port Jefferson and its Commissioner of Environmental Sustainability.  In those positions, she has focused on mitigating the Village’s longstanding problem with flooding, which has been aggravated by the effects of climate change.  Recently, the U.S. Geological Survey granted her application to include the Village in a national study of the type of multi-source “compound” flooding that the Village experiences.  Prior to entering municipal government, Kassay was hired by the Avalon Nature Preserve in Stony Brook to create and manage a program, which is still thriving today, that puts teenage volunteers to work on various environmental projects within the Preserve and the surrounding community.  In the Assembly, she wants to work on the successful implementation of New York’s Cap and Invest Program, which will set declining limits on the State’s greenhouse gas emissions and establish a market for emission allowances, thereby helping the State to achieve the ambitious carbon reduction goals of the State Climate Act and provide funding for carbon reduction projects.  She also wants to push for more State support for public transit, particularly local projects such as Complete Streets programs that support bike and pedestrian mobility.

 

NY Assembly Dist. 8 – Steven Basileo (Dem.):  Basileo has been active in political and labor union campaigning and organizing and is now making his first run for elective office, in an Assembly district located along the north shore of Suffolk County.   He is a strong advocate for the development of a green economy on Long Island, citing both the environmental and economic benefits that such a transition would produce.  If elected to the Assembly, he will work to make the approval process for renewable energy development more efficient and equitable so that critically important projects are not prevented or delayed by opposition campaigns based on fear mongering and misinformation and lower income communities are not disproportionately burdened by green development, as they have been in the past in connection with other intensive activities.  Basileo is also committed to the protection of Long Island’s sub-surface aquifers, which provide virtually all of its drinking water.  He supports the creation of a county-wide Wastewater Management District for Suffolk County to facilitate an efficient and rapid expansion of sewer construction and hookups throughout the County.

 

NY Assembly Dist. 10 – Steve Stern (Dem.):  Stern has served in the Assembly since 2018 and has established a consistently strong environmental record.  He is Chairman of the Assembly Subcommittee on Renewable Energy, a key leadership position in New York’s efforts to produce clean, dependable and affordable energy and generate well-paying jobs in the State’s expanding “green economy.”  During the current term, he supported a number of pro-environmental initiatives, including inclusion in the State budget of $1.2 billion for the Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act, along with $400 million for the State Environmental Protection Fund, and passage of the Climate Change Superfund Act, the Birds and Bees Protection Act, the Clean Fuel Standard of 2024, the New York HEAT Act and the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act.  For 2023, Stern has a 100% environmental scorecard from the League of Conservation Voters and a 92% scorecard from Environmental Advocates.