Anna Skrenta, the chairwoman of the East Hampton Town Democratic Party, confirmed Monday that Jeff Bragman had gotten in touch "just before the deadline" and will be screening with the Democratic Committee on Saturday as a candidate for town supervisor.
It is unclear if this means Mr. Bragman, a graduate of Yale University and a land-use attorney who served as councilman from 2018 to 2021, assistant town attorney, and as counsel to each of the town's advisory boards, will enter the race as a Democrat, creating a three-way primary race with current Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez and East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen, who announced his candidacy in November.
"I think he will pull more votes from Kathee than from me," Mayor Larsen said. "I think I'm more moderate than he is. I think I'm friendlier to business than he is. I believe he's anti-airport; I am not. We definitely have some differences there. But I think he's intelligent, has Town Hall experience, and he would be much better than our current supervisor."
Mr. Bragman ran a primary campaign against then-Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc in 2021, and made it close, taking 44 percent in the two-way race. He continued his race into the general election that year, running as an independent in a three-way race with Mr. Van Scoyoc and Kenneth Walles, who ran as a Republican. As an independent, he took 28.1 percent to Mr. Van Scoyoc's 47.6 percent and Mr. Walles's 24.3 percent.
At the time, he called the Democratic Committee "an entrenched political machine."
"While we came up short, we are encouraged by the fact that Mr. Van Scoyoc and the machine won less than 50 percent of the total votes at this point," he wrote in a Facebook post. "A majority rejected their candidate but were divided between independents and Republicans."
"A primary is something I've thought about," Mr. Bragman said this week. "It's on my mind. I'm sort of waiting on events. There have been some bumps in the road, and I think I have the kind of background that's important to have to get things done correctly in the town."
Mr. Bragman was an early and outspoken critic of the now-stalled $30 million senior citizens center. After the architecture venture chosen to design the center, R2 Architecture, began dissolving in a legal fight last year, the entire project was thrown into jeopardy.
"We will be rethinking the future of the senior center as a reimagined community center for all ages," Supervisor Burke-Gonzalez said at Tuesday's town board meeting. She also announced the creation of an advisory committee "to help guide how this expanded reimagined space can best serve people at every stage of life."
In a Sept. 25 letter to The Star, Mr. Bragman called on the town board to drop the plans for a new building at 403 Abraham's Path in Amagansett and reconsider using a local architect's plans to redevelop the parcel where the senior center now stands, at 128 Springs-Fireplace Road.
More recently Mr. Bragman has decried the town's seeming unwillingness to fight to defend a scenic easement on Further Lane.
Supervisor Burke-Gonzalez had no comment Tuesday morning on the potential for a three-way primary race. "My focus is on earning the endorsement of the Democratic Committee and the local Democratic voters as I have done five times over the past 12 years," she said in a text.
"I look forward to the conversations we're going to have with the supervisor, Mr. Bragman, and Mr. Larsen this Saturday," Ms. Skrenta said. "I don't think an active primary says anything about Kathee. I think it says more about these two individuals challenging her and their political aspirations. On the biggest issues facing the town, housing, for example, I look forward to hearing from both of them."
The Democratic convention will be held on Jan. 14 at 7 p.m. at St. Michael's Lutheran Church in Amagansett.
