Melissa Miller leaving State Assembly to join Hempstead Town Board

ALBANY — Assemb. Melissa Miller announced Wednesday she’s resigning from the State Assembly to become a Hempstead Town Board member, a move that had been expected.

Miller, a 57-year-old Atlantic Beach resident, will fill a board vacancy created when Bruce Blakeman won election as Nassau County executive and left the board. The town board is expected to appoint Miller on Tuesday.

Miller said Republican officials approached her about making the switch after Blakeman won in November, but she initially resisted.

"I first said no, I’m in the middle of my term" in the Assembly, Miller said in an interview with Newsday. She was halfway through her third two-year term in the chamber.

In the ensuing weeks, Oliver, her 22-year-old son who has a severe form of epilepsy and uses a wheelchair, underwent a complicated medical procedure and Miller began thinking it over. Through her five years in the Assembly, Miller and Oliver regularly made the trek to Albany, even, at times, to the Assembly floor during daily proceedings. She praised chamber officials for always being very accommodating.

During the pandemic, Miller had been able to attend Assembly sessions and committee meetings remotely. But the possibility the Assembly might soon return to in-person proceedings in Albany helped make her decision.

"If I can’t go to committee meetings on Zoom, I can’t do my job," Miller said. She decided to move to the town board.

"They were very gracious about it, letting me think about it," Miller said of GOP officials. "I’ll still do the work I’m doing but on a local level. It was such a great opportunity."

She said her goal in Hempstead will be "largely the same thing I wanted to do on state level, which is make changes to make life easier for people with disabilities."

"Missy Miller has been a champion for our community in the state Assembly and will continue her great work as a member of the Hempstead town board," Blakeman said in a statement.

Before she won an Assembly election in 2016, Miller was a presence at the State Capitol with a group of activists pushing lawmakers to legalize medical marijuana.

"I can’t say enough about how much Missy has meant to this (Republican) conference since she joined the Assembly," Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay (R-Pulaski) said in a statement. "She came to Albany determined to make a change, with the kind of personal drive and passion that few can match. This is a tough day for all of us and I know it was a tough decision for Missy."

Her decision leaves an open seat the 20th Assembly District, a competitive district which covers the very far southwest corner of Nassau County. The district has about 42,000 Democrats and 35,000 Republicans but it favored Republican Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

Gov. Kathy Hochul will have to call a special election to fill Miller’s vacancy, an Assembly official said, which, per state law, would fall in early to mid-April.