Two generic congressional vote polls released this week put Democrats ahead of Republicans by 9 and 4 percentage points. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who will be at the top of the Democratic Party ticket in the Nov. 3 election, leads her Republican challenger, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, by 9 percentage points in Suffolk County, according to a Siena University/Newsday poll.
On Monday, the daily average of polls conducted by dozens of organizations and compiled by The New York Times had President Trump’s approval at 39 percent, against 58 percent disapproving. A Politico analysis published in April showed that since Mr. Trump’s January 2025 inauguration, Democratic candidates have outperformed former Vice President Kamala Harris, the party’s nominee for president in 2024, in 193 of 229 state and federal elections.
According to a YouGov survey issued a month ago, just 21 percent of voters unaffiliated with a political party approve of Mr. Trump’s job performance, against 71 percent disapproving. And Suffolk has more unaffiliated, or “blank” voters, than any other county in the state.
For these and other reasons, New York’s First Congressional District “is a very flippable district,” Chris Gallant, who won the Democratic primary election last week, besting Lukas Ventouras by 63 to 37 percent, told The Star on Monday. “It is purple.”
Mr. Gallant, of Amity Harbor, may be in an advantageous position, given the president’s unpopularity and an overwhelming majority of the Republican congressional delegation in lockstep with his agenda. But a Democrat has not won in the district since then-Representative Tim Bishop won a sixth consecutive term in 2012. Former Representative Lee Zeldin, now the administrator of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, defeated Mr. Bishop in 2014 and won three subsequent elections until an unsuccessful run for governor of New York in 2022. The incumbent, Representative Nick LaLota, bested the Democratic candidates Bridget Fleming, in 2022, and John Avlon, in 2024, by 11 and 10 percentage points respectively. Mr. Gallant will face Mr. LaLota in the general election.
The district spans the eastern two-thirds of Suffolk County, encompassing East Hampton, Southampton, Shelter Island, Riverhead, Southold, Smithtown, and Huntington Towns and parts of Brookhaven.
“I have been saying the same thing since the beginning,” Mr. Gallant said. “As a country, we have to start coming together again. I hate the us-versus-them nonsense, it shouldn’t be like that.” He said he is asked if he is moderate or progressive, “and I tell people I’m a Democrat.” The “Mission Plan 2027” on his campaign website reflects conversations with voters in the district, he said. “I’ve been speaking with independents and Republicans across the district. They seem very excited” about his candidacy.
“People are looking for change,” said Mr. Gallant, an Army National Guard pilot, former air traffic controller, union leader, and volunteer firefighter. “I feel I could be that change, particularly with my background -- I’m often told I’d be the first Democrat they’d vote for. My entire life, I’ve seen a problem and stepped up to it. I knew the country needed someone to join the military, and I stepped up. Firefighter -- they were in desperate need. Same as being a union leader and F.A.A. controller. I’ve always done for others. Hopefully, I can change the lives of Americans, not only on Long Island but across the country.”
“The goal is to start working for America and the American people again, and run a campaign focused on my district, not necessarily partisan politics,” he said. “We have a lot of needs here.” One of the most urgent, he said, is infrastructure. “We have a large water problem. Our beaches are not ready for the next storm.”
The New York Independent System Operator, responsible for managing the state’s electrical grid, has warned that the grid is operating with its smallest reserve capacity margin in recent history, and that prolonged heat waves could trigger controlled power outages. Mr. Gallant criticized the Trump administration’s efforts to kill the nascent offshore wind farm industry -- “starting and stopping offshore wind has been detrimental” -- but questions its cost and effectiveness, and raised concerns about battery energy storage systems. One in East Hampton Town is blamed for leakage of perfluorinated chemicals, or PFAS, into groundwater and Suffolk County Water Authority wells after a 2023 fire. “We have to make sure aquifers are protected.”
“Housing is an issue, and making sure we set up a future for our children -- they will take over these jobs in the future,” he said. “If we don’t focus on them, we will never get anywhere as a country.” Other “missions” listed on his website are lowering the cost of living; protecting Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security and providing affordable health care; supporting veterans and military families; supporting labor and working families, and restoring trust in government.
While he has criticized Mr. LaLota on policy positions “and that ties him to Trump and his policies and positions as well,” he added that “we’re still workshopping exactly how we’re going to go on the offensive. I still firmly believe that people are over the political rhetoric and negativity of politics. We have really lost faith in government, and it’s time we restore that. . . . I want to tell people what it is that I can do, rather than tell people what he hasn’t done.”
Mr. Gallant’s endorsements have come from former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Representative Pat Ryan of New York’s 18th Congressional District, Suffolk County Minority Leader Jason Richberg, Suffolk Legislator Ann Welker and three other county legislators, Mr. Avlon, and former Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr.
“Maybe we can do events with them,” Mr. Gallant said of the campaign. “These town halls should be Democrats, Republicans, independents -- people who want their voices heard.”
And while the Cook Political Report has the district in its “solid Republican” column, “now that the primary is over, there’s a lot more interest being piqued,” he said. “I expect there to be a lot more national involvement. We’re working on that. We do need all the help we can get.”
