Suffolk County executive race: Ed Romaine has $900G, David Calone $335G in final week

Republican Ed Romaine has more than $900,000 to spend in the race for Suffolk County executive while Democrat David Calone has about $335,000 in the final week before the Nov. 7 general election.

Romaine, Brookhaven Town supervisor since 2012, and Calone, a former federal and state prosecutor and CEO of a private equity firm, are running to replace Steve Bellone, a Democrat who is term-limited after 12 years. The four-year term has an annual salary of $241,409.

Calone, 50, of Setauket, raised $235,553 in the past three weeks while Romaine raised $171,135, according to campaign finance documents filed Friday. The report covers fundraising from Oct. 3 through Oct. 23.

Romaine, 76, of Center Moriches, spent $809,643 in that period while Calone spent $919,781. The spending by both campaigns went primarily for television ads, according to the filings.

Calone has spent more than $2.8 million since declaring his candidacy in July 2022, while Romaine has spent $1.38 million since he declared in February, according to the filings.

They already have outspent the top candidates in Suffolk's most recent county executive race. In 2019, Bellone's campaign spent nearly $2.3 million compared with Republican John Kennedy's $488,295.

Romaine’s largest contributions this cycle included $15,000 from Kamljit Kaur of Old Westbury, $12,000 from John Kanas, a philanthropist from Remsenburg, and $10,000 from Gregory DeRosa of Syosset, CEO of a real estate investment and development firm.

“We're still working the phones for dollars to continue to build out our voter outreach,” said Suffolk GOP chairman Jesse Garcia, who has taken a lead role in the Romaine campaign. “We feel cautiously optimistic that our plan will result … in a ‘Romaine for Suffolk’ victory.’”

Calone’s largest donations include $20,000 from Nancy Goroff, a chemist from Stony Brook who is running for Congress in the 1st Congressional District, $20,000 from Christopher Beach of Stony Brook, and $10,000 from Democratic activist and philanthropist Marsha Laufer.

Calone also received $10,000 from Bellone, who has endorsed his candidacy.

Calone's campaign continues to raise money in the home stretch, campaign manager Shane Wolfe said.

"People paying attention know it's gonna be a really, really close race," Wolfe said. "We're going to continue to amplify his message through Election Day to make sure that he's our next county executive."

In addition to those filings, candidates are required to report within 24 hours donations of more than $1,000 made after Oct. 23.

Calone had several, including $25,000 from philanthropist Marilyn Simons and $25,000 from Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat who was Calone’s classmate at Princeton University. Polis is also lead investor for Jovian Holdings/Jove Equity Partners, where Calone is CEO.

Romaine has not reported any single donation of more than $1,000 since Oct. 23.

Calone has lent his campaign a total of $750,000 since 2022, filings show. He lent the campaign $250,000 in July 2022, $250,000 in January and $250,000 in July.

The bulk of Calone’s spending this cycle, $443,215, went to the national consulting firm Technicolor Political for TV ads. Calone’s campaign also transferred $150,000 to the state Democratic Committee and $32,500 to the Suffolk Democratic Committee.

Most of Romaine’s spending, $592,251, went to the Patchogue-based firm Public Relations and Marketing Group for TV ads. The campaign also transferred $165,700 to the Suffolk County GOP Committee. 

By Vera Chinese

vera.chinese@newsday.com@VeraChinese

Vera Chinese covers Suffolk County government and politics. She joined Newsday in 2017 after working as an editor for the East End lifestyle publication northforker and a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News.