Sheharyar Ali for Nassau Legislative District 3

The 3rd District includes South Floral Park and parts of Elmont, Floral Park, North Valley Stream, South Valley Stream and Valley Stream.

The 3rd District is a distinctive hub of diversity. Democratic incumbent Carrié Solages, 44, of Lawrence, has been in office since 2012, and is serving his sixth term. This year he faces a promising Republican challenger: Sheharyar Ali, 30, of Elmont, a first-time candidate.

Ali, a deputy county attorney, rightly emphasizes the need to communicate and coordinate with residents, especially those who are unfamiliar with county and town programs and processes. He shares that he has met thousands campaigning door-to-door between this race and prior Republican campaigns where he helped out. He says: “I feel like our politicians need to be more involved in the community, holding seminars, holding workshops, holding meet-and-greets, just to tell the community what services are available."

The candidate, who lives in the hamlet where he grew up, previously was an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn.

He calls for renewing digital and in-person public education on such topics as how to grieve property taxes. He plans to make a point of letting seniors know about programs of which they often are unaware. As Ali tells it, collaboration between residents and their officials should also extend to policing. A simple example is letting it be known that someone calling 911 needs to stay at the scene for the response.

While praising the interactions of the Nassau County Police Department’s long-standing “problem-oriented policing” unit, Ali wants to build on it by adding what the NYPD calls neighborhood coordination officers. A granular example of this: Merchants and their employees might be quicker to respond cooperatively when an officer they've met, and know where to find, comes around asking for videos of an incident under investigation.

Ali describes how he helped coordinate a volunteer effort to get baby formula for mothers who needed it during a local shortage. He said he reached out to friends in Florida, North Carolina and New Jersey to get it to Long Island. That signals pragmatic coordination and initiative.

And Ali appears to have a fitting and traditional view of the district as a magnet for people from a range of immigrant communities in New York City’s outer boroughs who seek public safety, good schools, and a yard. Thus he puts a premium on quality-of-life issues such as basic infrastructure and storm drainage to prevent flooding and ponding on roads.

Solages is a familiar face and name and has community relationships and support, but voters might not find his long incumbency to their advantage. Solages declined to be interviewed.

Ali offers a fresh face and new perspective, shows knowledge of the terrain, and appears ready to make a positive difference as a rookie lawmaker.

Newsday endorses Ali.