Nancy Goroff, the Democratic Party's nominee to challenge Representative Lee Zeldin in New York's First Congressional District, was the top vote-getter in the Democrats' June 23 primary election where it mattered most.
In a contest in which she bested Perry Gershon by just 661 votes, her margin of victory in the vote-rich Town of Brookhaven, as well as in Smithtown, helped her prevail in the four-candidate race.
By contrast, Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming, a former Southampton Town Councilwoman, was the runaway winner on the South Fork and on Shelter Island. She nonetheless finished third in the contest, despite her margins of victory in the more sparsely populated towns.
Mr. Gershon was the top vote-getter in Riverhead and Southold. His strong second-place showings in the towns Ms. Goroff won made for the close overall result.
Ms. Fleming won the vote in East Hampton, 1,948 to Mr. Gershon's 906 and Ms. Goroff's 604. In Southampton she again bested her competitors, winning 2,586 votes to Mr. Gershon's 1,549 and Ms. Goroff's 1,203. Ms. Fleming took 262 of the 500 votes cast on Shelter Island, with Mr. Gershon winning 159 and Ms. Goroff 78.
Mr. Gershon got 974 votes in Southold to Ms. Goroff's 788 and Ms. Fleming's 738. In Riverhead, he won 841 votes to Ms. Goroff's 733 and Ms. Fleming's 488.
Votes cast in Brookhaven accounted for more than half of Ms. Goroff’s and Mr. Gershon's districtwide total, and just under half of Ms. Fleming's. There, Ms. Goroff won 12,036 votes to Mr. Gershon's 10,824 and Ms. Fleming's 6,755.
The district spans part of Smithtown and Islip. In the former, Ms. Goroff won 2,185 votes to Mr. Gershon's 1,746 and Ms. Fleming's 831. She won in Islip as well, with 330 votes to Mr. Gershon's 296 and Ms. Fleming's 106. (A fourth candidate, Gregory-John Fischer, finished far behind the others, earning a total of 775 votes in the district.)
In another Democratic primary election held on June 23, Laura Ahearn captured 34.3 percent of the vote in finishing first among five candidates. She will challenge Assemblyman Anthony Palumbo in the state's First Senatorial District, where Senator Kenneth B. LaValle is retiring.
Southampton Town Councilman Tommy John Schiavoni, one of Ms. Ahearn's competitors, won in East Hampton, besting Ms. Ahearn by 97 votes. He likewise won in Southampton, by 873 votes over Ms. Ahearn, and on Shelter Island, where he won just 8 votes more than Ms. Ahearn. He finished third in the race over all, however. Ms. Ahearn won the most votes in Brookhaven, Riverhead, and Southold.
