Siela Bynoe takes early lead in 6th State Senate district over Thomas Montefinise

Five key State Senate races and 12 districts for the state Assembly were at stake Tuesday in Nassau, including one that could make history.

In the 6th Senate District, largely in the Town of Hempstead, Democratic Legis. Siela Bynoe, was vying to become Long Island’s first Black woman to ever serve in the State Senate.

Election results were incomplete Tuesday night, but Bynoe, 57, of Westbury, who has served in the GOP-controlled Nassau County Legislature for 10 years, had an early lead over Thomas Montefinise, 32, of Oceanside, a deputy county attorney in the Municipal Transaction Bureau in the Office of the Nassau County Attorney.

"Thank you to countless volunteers, our friends in labor and everyone who came out and voted today. I’m hopeful that we will win tonight and grateful for all the support our campaign has received," Bynoe said in a statement.

Among the key issues in the race was the future of the financially troubled Nassau University Medical Center and a possible casino at the site of the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale.

Bynoe defeated Assemb. Taylor Darling in a Democratic primary in June to replace incumbent State Sen. Kevin Thomas, who decided not to run for reelection, in part due to the redrawing of the 6th District.

In Nassau’s 7th State Senate District, located on the county’s North Shore, GOP State Sen. Jack Martins, 57, of Old Westbury, had a slight advantage over Democrat Kim Keiserman, 53, of Port Washington.

Martins, a former Mineola mayor, is serving his second tenure in the State Senate — he represented the district from 2011 through 2016, ran unsuccessfully for Nassau County executive and Congress and was then reelected again in 2022.

Keiserman, a first-time candidate, is a former social studies teacher and a member of the North Hempstead Housing Authority.

"Our campaign raised over $1.2 million, knocked on over 120,000 doors, made over 300,000 phone calls, sent thousands of postcards, and engaged young people in the political process all across Long Island," Keiserman said in a statement before the results came in.

The Martins campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

On the campaign trail, the candidates have focused on taxes, education, water quality, rail service and Gov. Kathy Hochul’s now-scrapped congestion pricing plan.

In the 18th Assembly District, Democrat Noah Burroughs, a former player for the New York Jets, was competing for an open seat in Hempstead, against Republican Danielle Samantha Smikle, 27, of Freeport, a high school teacher at a charter school in Uniondale.

Burroughs, 48, of Hempstead Village, who teaches history in the Hempstead Union Free School District and has been a Hempstead Village trustee since 2022, had an early lead and is looking to succeed Darling, who did not run for reelection.

In the 21st Assembly District, Republican Assemb. Brian Curran, 56, of Lynbrook, was trailing longtime rival Democrat Judy Griffin, 61, of Rockville Centre, in their third head-to-head race in the past six years. Curran won the seat in 2010 and held it until 2018, when Griffin unseated him. Four years later, Curran returned, beating Griffin by 138 votes.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.