Dems name Deborah Slinkosky as 5th Assembly District candidate
Suffolk Democrats named Deborah Slinkosky as their candidate in the special election that will be held on April 24, 2018. Credit: James Escher
Suffolk County Democrats have found a replacement for local union leader Peter Zarcone, who dropped out as the party candidate in the April 24 special election for the Fifth District Assembly seat.
Richard Schaffer, county Democratic chairman, said the party has chosen Deborah Slinkosky, 61, a former Sachem school board member from Holbrook to run for seat vacated by former GOP Assemb. Al Graf, now an Islip District Court judge.
Republicans have named Douglas Smith, 27, Graf’s aide during his seven years in the Assembly. Smith works as an Islip Town aide.
Slinkosky ran against Graf in 2014, losing by a margin of 67 to 33 percent. In 2007, Slinkosky lost to Republican Virginia Allen in a run for Islip receiver of taxes by 53 percent to 47 percent,
“She’s a longtime member of the community, who understands the needs of working men and women,” Schaffer said of Slinkosky.
Slinkosky works for the county Department of Social Services. She spent two decades working as a supervisor and manager at Chemical Bank and Dime Savings Bank.
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