The Point: Primary questions
Brookhaven Town councilman Neil Foley said he is "absolutely ready to run" for Lee Zeldin's congressional seat. Credit: James Escher
With New York’s June congressional primary fast approaching, a few GOP contenders are making moves to follow in Lee Zeldin’s footsteps in CD1.
They include Brookhaven Town Councilman Neil Foley, who told The Point Thursday that he is "absolutely ready to run," along with Robert Cornicelli, Anthony Figliola, and Edward Moore, who have filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to launch their campaigns.
Figliola, a former Brookhaven deputy supervisor who works at Empire Government Strategies, calls himself a "conservative Republican" and "strict constitutionalist" focused on Long Island’s high cost of living and issues like vaccine mandates.
He was once a Democrat and worked under a Democratic administration in Brookhaven, but says he left the party in his late 20s: "I grew up, I had a family, I got married, I found the Lord," he says, explaining the shift.
Cornicelli, a military veteran and St. James resident who has already posted fundraising numbers, is a Town of Oyster Bay sanitation inspector supervisor and veterans advocate. He is a regular presence on 103.9 LI News Radio and his campaign says he’ll be stumping on "helping people who have been forgotten, namely veterans and individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities."
His social media presence often wades into culture war issues, with mentions of "Fraud Fauci" and criticisms of immigrants here illegally and immigration more generally: "I am a vote for no climate refugees at all."
Moore, of Smithtown, identifies himself as an entrepreneur who is running as a novice but hopes to show other people they can "do it themselves."
Of course, he notes, "I may win."
Other names floated for the sure-to-be-expensive, nationally watched race include John Thaler, a prominent Lee Zeldin donor who runs a hedge fund, but Thaler has declined.
The next move appears to be with the county party apparatus — Foley, for one, said he didn’t want to hop fully into the race ahead of the county GOP and Conservative Party officially picking someone.
Asked about the timeline for screening candidates or coming behind a nominee, Suffolk GOP chairman Jesse Garcia said in a text that the lack of district lines "has caused delays. February."
Mark Chiusano is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
