Stephen Kiely drops GOP bid for Southold Town supervisor

Republican lawyer Stephen Kiely, a former deputy Suffolk County clerk, has folded his primary campaign for Southold Town supervisor to, “avoid fracturing the Republican Party.”

Kiely said he had spoken to 400 households and had significantly more than the 304 petition signatures he needed to qualify for the ballot.

Republican Supervisor Scott Russell already has the Conservative and Independence Party lines, which could have led to a messy three-way contest in November.

Kiely said Southold has appointed him to the unpaid post of counsel to the town’s new agricultural advisory committee. “It will give me a little bit of a voice and a seat at the table,” Kiely said, adding he hopes to have a chance to run in the future.