Both Hempstead Town supervisor nominees drop out

Daily Point

Republican Supervisor Don Clavin, Democrat Justin Brown decline nominations

In what appears to be a first in Long Island political history, The Point has learned both candidates for Hempstead Town supervisor will decline their party’s nomination Monday.

Current Republican Supervisor Don Clavin and Democratic nominee Justin Brown will decline running to lead the largest town by population in the nation. Monday was the deadline for declinations.

Jay Jacobs, the New York State and Nassau County Democratic Party chair, is expected to announce on Thursday the candidate to replace Brown, The Point has learned. Three sources confirmed the candidate is a former NYPD officer with a military background, but none of the sources disclosed the name except to say it was an Italian-sounding name.

Republicans haven’t decided on their replacement for Clavin. The deadline to announce a vacancy after a candidate declines their party nomination is Friday, April 11. There are a half-dozen names being circulated but top contenders are former Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, Hempstead Town Clerk Kate Murray, and Nassau Legis. John Ferretti. D’Esposito, a former Hempstead Town councilman, was nominated March 31 by President Donald Trump as inspector general for the Department of Labor. Murray became the first woman elected supervisor of Hempstead Town in 2003 after being appointed earlier that year, and served until she made an unsuccessful run for Nassau district attorney in 2015. Ferretti, however, has long eyed the county executive spot after incumbent Republican Bruce Blakeman moves on.

Clavin has long been rumored to want a judgeship, and The Point has learned that Clavin is expected to be nominated by the Nassau GOP for a seat on the Nassau County Court.

The reluctance by both Clavin, an established incumbent with broad name recognition, and Brown, who ran unsuccessfully for Nassau clerk in 2021, to accept their party’s nomination could be indicative of the national and local political mood and the unpleasantness of being an elected official right now.

On the national level, the immediate blowback from Trump’s worldwide tariffs and subsequent stock market declines could make 2025 an unpopular year for Republicans, despite it being an off-year when they usually do well. In Nassau, the party in power often struggles locally after winning the White House.

The Las Vegas Sands casino proposal is another thorny issue in Nassau. Supported by Blakeman, Sands is apparently unpopular with Republican households in Garden City, where Clavin lives, and other GOP strongholds. Democrats, however, are reluctant to use Sands aggressively against Republicans because local labor, a traditional backer of Democrats, supports the proposal and stands to benefit from such a massive construction project.

Whichever Republican does accept the nomination for Hempstead Town supervisor will have to overcome an expected Democratic surge against Trump and the loss of independents who may have voted for Trump, while sidestepping opposition to Sands.

The Democratic candidate will have to navigate the Sands proposal while fighting an uphill battle in the traditional Republican stronghold.

And neither Clavin nor Brown wanted to dip their toes into those political forces.

— Mark Nolan mark.nolan@newsday.com, Rita Ciolli rita.ciolli@newsday.com

Pencil Point

Riding roughshod

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Quick Points

Fee-for-all

• Suffolk County collected nearly $91 million in extra fees assessed on red light camera tickets, which courts have ruled illegal. Nassau County charged even higher fees, which it also could be required to pay back to drivers. No wonder Nassau won’t say how much in extra fees it collected.

• President Donald Trump fired a handful of National Security Council staffers after receiving advice to ax them from far-right agitator and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer. Even many Republicans would say he got the firer and firees reversed.

• Seven Senate Republicans have now signed onto legislation that would reassert congressional authority over trade and allow it to vote on tariffs. Any bets that number continues to grow if stocks continue to drop?

• National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett said he doesn’t believe President Donald Trump’s tariffs will have a "big effect on the consumer in the U.S." Despite all evidence to the contrary.

• Regarding a plan in Albany to withhold state tax dollars owed the federal government to fight back against Trump administration funding cuts, State Sen. Liz Krueger said New York needs to be "exceptionally creative" and "think out of the box" — strategies that now apparently include doing things that are illegal and downright stupid.

• Regarding the chaos that has greeted his imposition of tariffs, President Donald Trump posted a message that read in part, "Don’t be a PANICAN ..." That’s appropriate — a manufactured word to respond to a manufactured crisis.

— Michael Dobie michael.dobie@newsday.com

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