Fleming, LaLota vie to replace Zeldin in 1st Congressional District

ALBANY — The race in Suffolk County’s 1st Congressional District pits a Republican who says he will “fight Biden’s agenda” against a Democrat bent on restoring abortion rights and fighting climate change.

Prevailing political winds and a narrowly split district make the race between Democrat Bridget Fleming and Republican Nicholas LaLota potentially a tight one. The winner will have to attract more than his or her base over local issues in the race that also might impact national politics in the control for Congress.

“It’s tough out there,” said Fleming, 62, of Noyac, a Suffolk County legislator. “It’s hard to make ends meet. And what we are hearing out on the stump is Long Islanders want someone not just exploiting extreme viewpoints, but who does the work of government.”

LaLota, 43, of Amityville, said he’s focused on the economic pressure on Long Island families, blaming part of it on Democratic President Joe Biden.

“What I’ve heard from Suffolk County residents right now is the higher prices, energy costs, higher interest rates … are causing a big squeeze,” said LaLota, the county Legislature’s chief of staff and former county elections commissioner. “They know the Biden administration’s weak economic and energy policies are a part of that problem.”

The race is for the open seat held since 2014 by Republican Lee Zeldin, who is now the GOP nominee for governor. But the district has flipped between parties over the years and Democrats see it as a good chance to bolster the party’s slim majority in Congress, or at least blunt a GOP wave. 

“The district is the heart of Trump activism on Long Island, and it’s likely to remain a match for the heightened energy on the Democratic side,” said Lawrence Levy, executive dean of Hofstra University’s National Center for Suburban Studies.

“That said, there’s the question of whether LaLota can bring all the more ‘Trumpy’ voters back into the fold and whether his tiptoeing around the abortion issue will alienate some conservatives who had backed his primary opponents,” Levy said. “The biggest X factors in the race are Trump and Biden.”

Democrats have the enrollment edge in the district with 182,396 enrolled members to the Republicans’ 174,622, but Democrats lose that advantage when 11,119 members of the Conservative Party are included. The wild card is the 155,501 voters who chose not to enroll in any party.

Trump won Suffolk County in 2016 by 49,849 votes, but in 2020 won by only 232 votes from more than 760,000 cast.

Democrats also said they are surging after the U.S. Supreme Court decision this past summer by the conservative majority that struck down nationwide abortion rights. Democrats said many voters also are rejecting Republicans in light of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters.

Republicans, however, said rising crime and inflation are prompting more voters to side with the GOP, which has made those issues the party’s top priorities.

Fleming said she would make it a priority to end the cap on deducting state and local taxes — known as SALT — from federal income taxes crafted by Trump and a Republican Congress that hits many Long Islanders. She said the issue goes beyond her party, even though Biden hasn't embraced the measure.

“That’s hit Long Islanders hard … it might mean I have to stand up to the president,” Fleming said.

LaLota blames the Biden administration for failing to bolster the economy as it recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, for inflation triggered by spending billions of dollars to help individuals, companies and governments and schools to recover, and the rise in gasoline prices earlier this year when Russia invaded Ukraine.

LaLota, a former Navy officer and Annapolis graduate, said he would bring fiscal discipline to Washington to reduce federal spending to slice inflation.

Long Islanders “know that decades — this, by the way, from both parties — of overspending in Washington and the inability to balance a budget leads to this inflation,” LaLota said. “They are looking for leadership.”

Fleming, a former sex crimes and public fraud prosecutor in the New York City District Attorney’s Office, said she objected to the 2019 bail law that ended bail for most misdemeanors and many nonviolent felonies.

“The reforms were the result of a process that was just way too fast and did not have the input of folks who usually do have input on those important public safety issues, such as victims’ advocates groups,” Fleming said.

LaLota said reducing crime is one of his top priorities. To do that, he said he would support building “a wall, a fence or some barrier” along the Mexican border to stem the flow of narcotics. Trump’s proposed wall to block illegal immigrants was never finished.

LaLota, however, differs with the hard-line stance against abortion by most GOP leaders. He said he favors banning abortions only in the second and third trimester, but added that it’s a state, rather than congressional, issue.

Democrats in Washington, however, have vowed to restore abortion rights, while some Republicans have called for a nationwide ban.

“I would not vote to ban abortion,” LaLota said in an interview with Newsday. He said he also doesn’t oppose abortions in cases of rape, incest or to “save the mother’s life.” But he wants to end federal funding of abortions and supports notification of parents before an abortion is performed.

Fleming said LaLota's argument is a deflection, calling abortion a “basic human right under attack.”

“He’s turning his back on protecting women and on the rights women have enjoyed for half a century as a fundamental federal freedom,” Fleming said. “There is no one-size-fits-all rule that a politician in any state, or in Congress, that is going to adequately protect women in complex circumstances when they need to make a decision on medical care … an arbitrary time line placed by a politician is dangerous for women.

“I will fight to codify the protections of Roe,” she added.

The candidates also differ on climate change.

LaLota said the nation should drill for more oil rather than adhere to the increasing restrictions on fossil fuels that contribute to global warming. He said natural gas can be extracted from the Southern Tier in a process called hydrofracking, which is banned in New York because of its threat to the environment. He said both processes can be done safely.

“Regular folks know that this is part of the solution,” LaLota said, “and I think a Republican Congress would help force the president to do things like that.”

Fleming said she would work to increase the use of electric vehicles to wean the country from dependence on foreign fossil fuels. She also would support goals of the Paris Climate Accords — which set hard targets for reducing carbon emissions to stem climate change — while securing aid to support green programs on Long Island.

“I will move Long Island toward solar and wind energy production and away from fossil fuels, helping to create good-paying jobs and lowering energy prices for residents,” she said.

“The big question,” Levy said, “is whether this year looks more like 2016 or 2020. The falloff for Trump in the last election was significant, and it gives hope to Democrats that this might be the rate seat they might flip in a difficult year nationally.”

By Michael Gormley

michael.gormley@newsday.com@GormleyAlbany

Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.