Siela A. Bynoe for Nassau Legislative District 2

The 2nd District includes New Cassel, Uniondale and parts of East Meadow, Hempstead and Westbury.

New boundaries keep only 33% of the district's former voters, but the heart of it remains the Village of Westbury, which both candidates call home.

Republican challenger Karin B. Campbell, 63, previously ran for a legislative seat in 2011 and for North Hempstead Town council the year before. A longtime school board member in Westbury, Campbell had a career with the Long Island Rail Road and Amtrak; she now works as a case manager at a Mineola nonprofit to help those seeking permanent housing and other social services. Little wonder she is passionate about providing more of it, suggesting it should be built at the Nassau Hub, on vacant lots and other underutilized properties, as well as other communities outside the district to help solve the problem. She wants county government to be more active in addressing the opioid epidemic and making sure social service funds actually reach those who need them. 

Democratic incumbent Siela A. Bynoe, 56, seeks her fifth full term, but if she wins, there is no certainty she will complete it. She initially sought the Democratic nomination in the 4th Congressional District in 2022 and now is eyeing a possible opening for State Senate in 2024. 

One of the county's most active legislators in proposing laws and providing oversight of the administration, Bynoe has a plan for almost every issue. She called for hearings in March about the shaky finances of Nassau University Medical Center and thinks one way of shoring it up would be to move the county's A. Holly Patterson nursing home to NUMC's East Meadow campus and lease the nursing home property for industry or business development to bring jobs. She was a key player in negotiating a larger community benefits package from Las Vegas Sands before voting to transfer the lease on the Nassau Coliseum site to the company seeking a state casino license. When discussing road safety and flooding concerns, Bynoe knows every hot spot in the area and was able to secure $15 million in the most recent capital plan for design and study to make improvements. Most recently, she surfaced flaws in the county's contracting process needlessly delaying the delivery of opioid settlement money to nonprofits on the front line of the epidemic.

Bynoe has detailed insight of the legislative process and knows how to harness that to better deliver for all Nassau residents as well as those in her district.

Newsday endorses Bynoe.