Rep. Hakeem Jeffries campaigns for Laura Gillen weeks before Election Day

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries stumped Thursday night for Democratic congressional candidate Laura Gillen in Hempstead, less than three weeks before Election Day.

Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) introduced Gillen, 55, of Rockville Centre, Thursday evening during a get-out-the-vote rally in a packed gym at Kennedy Memorial Park in Hempstead. The rally was hosted with Hempstead Village Mayor Waylyn Hobbs and promoted by the village. 

Gillen is running in a rematch for the 4th Congressional District against first-term incumbent Anthony D’Esposito, 42, (R-Island Park) to capture the district. D’Esposito, a former NYPD detective, won the seat by nearly 10,000 votes in 2022.

The outcome of the congressional race could decide control of the House and potentially propel Jeffries to serve as the first Black Speaker of the House.

Jeffries' campaign stop comes a month after former President Donald Trump held a rally on Long Island, shouting out D’Esposito and other Republican candidates.

Jeffries noted that the 4th district is one of four races in the country Democrats need to flip the house. He laid out the Democratic agenda and recounted threats to overturn the 2020 presidential election on Jan. 6.

"It's incredibly important in terms of the direction of this country, that Democrats take back control of the House of Representatives," Jeffries, flanked by state Democratic party leader Jay Jacobs and state Democratic candidates that include Siela Bynoe and Noah Burroughs, said. 

Jeffries said Republicans voted in 2017 to cap state and local income tax deductions, known as SALT, at $10,000.

"They cost you thousands of dollars by taking away your state and local tax deduction, and this current group pretends like they want to do something about it," Jeffries said. "Not a single bill from any of these Republicans in New York has been brought to the floor of the House of Representatives to address that issue. I can promise you that when you send Laura Gillen to the United States House of Representatives, we're going to restore your state and local deductions."

Trump made a similar promise a day before his campaign event at Nassau Coliseum, despite pushing for the cap. 

The congressional district is mostly comprised of the Town of Hempstead, where Gillen and D'Esposito served together on the Hempstead Town Board. 

Gillen was elected in 2017 and served for one term on the Hempstead Town Board as the first Democratic supervisor elected in a century. D’Esposito served as a town councilman from 2016 through 2021.

Gillen called out D’Esposito’s history of awarding government jobs to friends and family, both in Hempstead and at his congressional office. She has called for a House ethics investigation after the New York Times reported he gave congressional staff jobs to his fiancee’s daughter and his alleged mistress.

"We've seen what Anthony D'Esposito's priorities are. I campaigned for town supervisor, to fight cronyism nepotism and to bring transparency and sunlight into the town of Hempstead," Gillen said.

D'Esposito has vowed he did nothing wrong in hiring for Congressional positions.

"Perennial candidate Laura Gillen keeps being rejected by voters election after election because she continues to demonstrate that she is out-of-step with Long Island taxpayers and in-line with leftist leaders like Hakeem Jeffries," D'Esposito said in a statement to Newsday Thursday night. "Tonight, Laura Gillen proved that she would work on overdrive to force Hakeem Jeffries’ unpopular progressive agenda of porous borders and higher taxes on Nassau County residents even after that same agenda has failed in Jeffries’ hometown of Brooklyn."

Early voting starts Oct. 26.

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.