Congress
Laura Gillen defeats Rep. Anthony D’Esposito in heated NY rematch focused on border security
NEW YORK — Democratic challenger Laura Gillen notched an upset Tuesday night over first-term GOP Rep. Anthony D’Esposito in New York City’s suburbs, flipping a highly coveted seat in a racially diverse district spanning the South Shore of western Long Island.
The win by Gillen, a former local government official, gives Democrats a much-needed boost in their quest to retake the House and returns some partisan balance in a region largely governed by Republicans at local and state levels.
Gillen, previously the town of Hempstead’s supervisor, had narrowly lost a bid against D’Esposito for the seat in 2022.
D’Esposito, a freshman member of Congress and former NYPD detective, faced scandal in the final months of his campaign after a September New York Times exposé revealed he had an affair and put his lover and his fiancee’s daughter on his payroll.
He has denied he violated House ethics rules.
Gillen’s path to victory was paved by Democrats’ outreach to Black and Latino voters in the district, her argument that she’s better positioned to work across the aisle and her message that her party cares about securing the border. Her prospects improved after Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket.
Congressional races on Long Island, in the Hudson Valley and in central New York are expected to help determine whether Mike Johnson or Hakeem Jeffries serves as speaker next year.
In 2022, D’Esposito flipped the NY-04 red after former Democratic Rep. Kathleen Rice opted not to seek reelection.
It made the district one of a handful in the House where voters chose Biden in 2020 but elected a GOP House member two years later. The victory was part of a red wave that engulfed the state as Republicans flipped four New York House seats red.
D’Esposito, who was instrumental in getting then-colleague Rep. George Santos expelled, was a face of the storied Nassau County Republican Party and a leader that Donald Trump touted when he visited the district in September.
As one of the few women challengers Democrats floated in the battlegrounds of California and New York, Gillen proved to be a prolific fundraiser. She brought in $2.4 million in the third quarter of her campaign and $1.9 million in the second quarter.
Democratic attacks on D’Esposito often focused less on the accusations of patronage and nepotism and more on misconduct complaints against him that were lodged during his days as a police officer. He was accused of lying under oath, a matter New York City settled with $250,000 in taxpayer money, and he failed to secure his gun, which was stolen from him.
D’Esposito defended his police record in their sole debate. He accused Gillen of patronage and sought to use her record as town supervisor against her. He repeatedly attacked her as a liar, a gaslighter and someone he described as ineffective in the Hempstead government where they both served.
His ads targeted Gillen as an ally of unpopular Democratic leaders, Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who he and other vulnerable New York Republicans painted as soft on migrants and crime.
“My opponent and Democrats throughout the country told us that the border was secure, and they said that the economy was booming,” D’Esposito said at the News 12 debate. “All of a sudden Kamala Harris becomes the nominee, and now they want to secure the border and they want to fix the economy. They’re lying to everyone.”
Gillen sought to paint D’Esposito as enabling a highly ineffective and dysfunctional Republican-controlled Congress, noting that House Republicans rejected the Senate’s bipartisan border deal.
“You send me to Congress,” she said in one ad. “I will work with anyone from any party to secure our southern border, lock up criminals pushing fentanyl and stop the migrant crisis.”
The Democrat also insisted that the GOP incumbent would green-light a nationwide abortion ban supported by Speaker Johnson.
D’Esposito, like other moderate Republicans fighting for their political lives in blue states, said he would not vote for a federal ban and accused Democrats of misrepresenting his views for political gain.
Democratic leaders stumped in the district for Gillen over the course of the race. They included House Minority Leader Jeffries, House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Gregory Meeks and House Minority Whip Katherine Clark.
Sen. Ron Johnson is sending a letter Monday requesting a conference meeting to discuss the midterm results and a delay in the leadership election.
Johnson has gathered enough signatures to force the meeting under the Senate GOP’s rules and is proposing the gathering for 9 a.m. Tuesday.
“Tuesday’s result was a stunning defeat,” Johnson and his backers write in the letter to Conference Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a copy of which was obtained by POLITICO. “Holding leadership elections without engaging in a robust discussion and evaluation of how those running for leadership intend to lead would be political malpractice”
Republicans still expect their leadership election to be held Tuesday, where Majority Leader John Thune is so far unopposed to lead the party next year in the minority.
Sen. Chris Murphy announced Friday that he has been released from the hospital after suffering a stroke last week, but will miss “several weeks” of Senate votes while he continues to recover.
“The doctors are very encouraged by the progress I’ve made so far,” the Connecticut Democrat said in a statement. “In order to take my recovery seriously and get back to work on the quickest timeline possible, I will be spending several weeks at a rehabilitation center after being discharged from the hospital today.”
He added that he remains in touch remotely with his staff and colleagues.
Murphy, who was hospitalized last weekend, said Friday that he was “diagnosed with a small bleed in the thalamus region of my brain.” Jose Suarez, the Chief of Neurosciences Critical Care at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, said in a separate statement released by Murphy’s office that the senator “experienced a small hemorrhagic stroke.”
“He has shown tremendous progress, and at the current rate of improvement, we expect that he will make a full recovery following rehabilitation,” Suarez added.
Murphy is the latest senator to suffer a stroke in recent years. Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) were both hospitalized for strokes in 2022. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), at that time a Senate candidate, also had a stroke in 2022 that he later described as near fatal.
The head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus said his group will still be power brokers in a massive Democratic majority in a strategy memo previewing plans for next term.
“While some in the press have speculated that a majority of this size undermines our influence within the caucus, they have it exactly backwards,” Rep. Greg Casar of Texas said in the Friday memo obtained by Blue Light News. “Big majorities are good for getting big things done. Our goal is not to win a battle against other Democratic caucuses. It is to pass longstanding progressive priorities that bring down costs, root out corruption, and boost wages.”
The CPC will have at least 105 members next term, according to the memo. If Democrats had a narrow majority, progressives — and any other faction in the caucus — could have used their votes as leverage. Now that presumptive speaker Hakeem Jeffries will have as many 30 votes to spare, Democrats broadly are recalibrating their approach next term.
Casar laid out a “three-pronged” strategy for the CPC to “wield our power” in the three-page memo — tackling legislation, oversight and “holding Donald Trump to his word on populist economic policies.”
“Small majorities give corporate special interest groups the ability to block popular populist policies by recruiting a small number of opponents; a big majority gives us the advantage,” he said.
Casar previewed how the CPC can engage with Trump, noting that “one of the few bright spots for bipartisan lawmaking” was a housing bill that banned private equity firms from buying homes. He noted the caucus should push Trump to cap credit card interest rates, lower credit card fees for small businesses and lower prescription drug costs.
“While we oppose [Trump] strongly on the vast majority of fronts, we should send bills to his desk that would lower prices and raise paychecks. If he signs them, good. If he vetoes those bills, that will propel us to a continued Democratic majority and a trifecta where a Democratic president can sign these proposals into law,” he said.
Casar also outlined oversight targets beyond the administration, urging Democrats to specifically investigate corporations that use customer data for “surveillance pricing,” health care companies that are “taking advantage of seniors” through the Medicare Advantage program and artificial intelligence labs who are “putting jobs and lives at risk.”
“By focusing not just on the Trump administration but also on big corporations and billionaires, we will show the American people we are not just anti-Trump but also pro-worker and pro-consumer,” he said.
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