East Hampton Town’s Democratic Party candidates launched their 2025 campaign on Monday with a gathering marked by gloomy assessments of Democrats’ status at the national level mixed with encouraging signs of resistance. At home, they enjoy a supermajority on the town board and among the town trustees, with some incumbents running unopposed for re-election.
“Things are really awful right now,” Anna Skrenta, the East Hampton Town Democratic Committee chairwoman, said at Moby’s restaurant in East Hampton. “I’m not going to pretend they’re not.” She spoke barely a week after two Minnesota Democratic elected officials and their spouses were shot, two of them fatally, and several Democratic lawmakers were shoved and handcuffed in incidents involving the detention of immigrants.
The November 2024 election “was a tough time for me,” Michael Hansen, a candidate for town clerk, said. “I shut down, I turned off the news, I didn’t want to read anything. But I quickly learned that that doesn’t make me feel better or make it better for anyone else. Burying your head in the sand is no way to do it.”
Suffolk County Legislator Ann Welker, who will face a Republican challenger in the Nov. 4 election, also acknowledged her party’s predicament at the national level, where Republicans control the White House and both houses of Congress, but pivoted to hope. “In these days when sometimes things seem so dark and dreary,” she said, “each of the candidates that you will hear from this evening represents a bright light in our world. It’s a reason for each of us to hold on tight to the concept of hopeful persistence.”
To that end, Ms. Skrenta noted the estimated 1,200 who “stood on June 14th with the No Kings rally,” which she said represented a doubling in size over previous demonstrations in the town since Donald Trump became president for the second time. “Every time I go, folks are like, ‘Where are the young people?’ The young people were there on June 14th, and it was so beautiful to see.”
Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez is running unopposed for re-election.
Councilwoman Cate Rogers, who is the deputy supervisor, is also up for re-election, as is Councilman Ian Calder-Piedmonte, who was appointed to the board in January 2024 and won a special election in November to serve the remainder of Ms. Burke-Gonzalez’s term following her election as supervisor.
Four of the town trustees are up for re-election: John Aldred, Tim Garneau, David Cataletto, and Celia Josephson. Mr. Hansen hopes to succeed Carole Brennan, who is retiring. Also up for re-election are Town Justice Steven Tekulsky, Eugene DePasquale, the tax assessor, and Stephen Lynch, the superintendent of highways, who is endorsed by both Republicans and Democrats.
“It’s so exciting to be with a group of Democrats that are holding the line on our democracy,” Ms. Burke-Gonzalez said. “It takes steady, compassionate leadership, community-focused leadership to get the job done.”
“This is what democracy looks like,” Ms. Rogers said. “The future of East Hampton is one that we will build side by side, a future where we protect what makes our town special.”
Mr. Calder-Piedmonte called the board “five pretty different people” with “different life experiences, different perspectives, but I think that in the year and a half I’ve spent with you, what we’ve shown is that we can agree and disagree respectfully and productively. I think that the dynamic that we have is good and healthy for the community.”
James (J.P.) Foster and Scott Smith are Republican candidates for town board, and Jeff Miller is the party’s candidate for town clerk. Mr. Smith, a candidate in the 2023 elections, declined the nomination late in the process, after petitions were submitted to the Suffolk County Board of Elections. His name will appear on the ballot, but he will not run an active campaign, according to Manny Vilar, chairman of the East Hampton Town Republican Committee.
Mr. Vilar did not reply to a message seeking information on additional
candidates.
