John Avlon, who quickly rose to the top in a field of Democratic congressional contenders that numbered half a dozen just a few months ago, is the winner of Tuesday's primary in New York's First Congressional District, besting the second-time candidate Nancy Goroff.
At a primary night party in Riverhead Tuesday, his supporters began celebrating his victory within an hour of the polls closing when The New York Times called the race in his favor. Early unofficial results from the Suffolk County Board of Elections, before all election districts had reported totals, put Mr. Avlon comfortably ahead, with more than 70 percent of the vote.
"It's been a beautiful day in Suffolk County," Mr. Avlon told the crowd gathered with him at the Riverhead Brew House. "We proved that the positive defeats the negative. . . . We showed that the politics of addition can defeat the politics of division and that's going to be the key to winning in November."
He congratulated Ms. Goroff on running a "hard fought race," and told his supporters that "We in Suffolk County are lucky to live in a swing district. Most Americans don’t . . . That's what's led to this poisonous hyper-partisanship that frustrates so many of us. But here we can do something about it. We can be the change we want to see."
By 10:30, Mr. Avlon was on the outside deck of the restaurant, the party was clearing out, and he was taking a congratulatory call from Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Mr. Avlon, who lives in Sag Harbor, is a former CNN anchor and analyst. He served as editor in chief and managing director of The Daily Beast from 2013 to 2018, and was a chief speechwriter for former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a role that Ms. Goroff's supporters seized on a series of attack ads.
He will face the one-term incumbent Republican Nick LaLota in November.
In conceding on Tuesday night, Ms. Goroff said in a release that “It is imperative that all Democrats now come together to defeat Nick LaLota and flip this seat in November. John has built a broad coalition of elected officials, community leaders, and unions. He will be a commonsense voice for the people of Suffolk in Washington and a vast improvement over LaLota who has proven to be far too extreme for this district. The people of Suffolk deserve a representative who will work hard and find solutions to the major problems facing our community, and that is John Avlon.”
This is a developing story.
