LaLota Gets GOP Nod In Race To Replace Zeldin In 1st Congressional District

Suffolk County Republicans have picked Nick LaLota as their candidate to run for the recently redrawn 1st Congressional District seat being vacated by incumbent Lee Zeldin, who is running for governor instead.

LaLota is a former Suffolk County Board of Elections commissioner and currently serves as chief of staff for Republican Kevin J. McCaffrey, the presiding officer of the Suffolk County Legislature.

The news that the party was backing LaLota, who only recently announced his candidacy, did not sit well with two other Republicans, Robert Cornicelli and Anthony Figliola, who entered the race earlier. Both said earlier this week they would continue to fight for the nomination in the June 28 primary, but on Tuesday, Cornicelli announced that he would instead mount a primary challenge against incumbent Republican Andrew Garbarino in the 2nd Congressional District.

Suffolk County GOP Chairman Jesse Garcia said LaLota was the unanimous choice of the 10 town Republican chairmen in Suffolk County, who believed he could keep the district in Republican hands, despite what he called a Democratic redistricting effort that “radically manipulated” the electoral map to favor their party.

“Part of my job responsibilities as chairman is to steer and guide the committee to the best results on Election Day,” Garcia said. “Our intention is to come out early with a candidate who can fill the seat now held by the next governor of New York, Lee Zeldin.”

Zeldin secured the state party’s endorsement for governor at the GOP state convention on Tuesday in Nassau County.

LaLota, 43, is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a former Amityville village trustee. For now, he does not live in the new 1st Congressional District, but he said he planned to move into it before the November election.

He promised to run on a platform of “freedom, finances and fairness.” He cited past COVID-19 mask mandates as an example of how Americans’ freedom is being eroded at home, while calling the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine an external threat.

“Nobody’s talking about the national debt, which is spiraling out of control,” he continued. “That has to be at the forefront of the discussion. We have a government that taxes too much and spends too much.”

Finally, he said, New York ranks fifth-lowest among states for the amount of money it gets back from Washington, D.C., in relation to how much it sends in. “New York deserves its share of the pie,” he said.

Although LaLota spoke like a candidate confident that he would be the nominee, Anthony Figliola said he would stay in the race.

Figliola, the executive vice president of Empire Government Services, an economic development consulting firm, who announced his candidacy at the beginning of the year, said nothing had changed as far as he was concerned.

“They have been respectful to me and shown me lots of support through the whole process,” he said of Republican leaders. “We’ve had lots of great conversations back and forth, but for me, my focus is on helping the hardworking men and women of this district.”​​​​

Although Garcia said Republican leaders picked LaLota because they believed he had broader appeal in a new district that includes parts of all 10 Suffolk County towns as well as a portion of Nassau County, Figliola, of East Setauket, said his background in economic development would appeal districtwide as well.

Cornicelli, a resident of St. James and a U.S. Army veteran, entered the 1st District race last summer and had vowed to fight to the bitter end, saying he was the only candidate who attended all the committee screenings. He called the Republican leadership’s endorsement of LaLota “a slap in the face to every committee person who took the time out of their busy schedules to attend those screenings, listen to the candidates speak, and fill out candidate rating forms.”

His campaign manager, Lawrence Bialek, said he was confident Cornicelli would emerge triumphant. “At the end of the day, the only thing that has ever mattered to the American public is that their voice be heard,” he said. “It’s not going to happen behind closed doors.” He added that “come January, [Cornicelli] will be sitting down in Washington representing the people of the District.”

By Tuesday afternoon, Cornicelli had done an about-face. In a press release, he said Mike Rakebrandt, who is currently running a primary against Garbarino, had asked him to replace him.

“My staff and I have met, and we think it’s best to run in the 2nd, not just for us but also for the American people,” Cornicelli said in a release. “Right now, Garbarino is doing a disservice to the people who got him to Congress. He’s given up true Republican values and has time and again voted for his own interests instead of the interests of the people of this district.”

While the Republicans have thrown their support behind LaLota, Richard Schaeffer, the Democratic chairman, has said his party will let the voters pick from among County Legislator Bridget Fleming of Noyac, County Legislator Kara Hahn of Setauket, and Jackie Gordon of Copiague, an Army veteran, teacher, and former Babylon Town Board member, in the June 28 primary.​​