JEWISH WORLD

JEWISH WORLD • OCTOBER 27-NOVEMBER 2, 2023 9 thony J. Santino. “There is always a higher turn- out in presidential elections,” Gillen said (2024 is a presiden- tial election year), “and you have to remember, Congress is totally dysfunctional.” She blames Re- publicans for that, including an in- ability to pass a budget or resolve the immigration issue. “Laura has no idea how the fed- eral government works,” D’Es- posito said. He noted that House Republicans approved a bill in May that would restart construction of a border wall and restrict asylum ac- cess. No Democrats, who widely es not heard” last time, she said in an interview, referring to the more than 85,000 fewer votes cast in 2022 than in 2020. “I do expect this will go a different way. We do need people in Congress interest- ed in working for the people, not their cronies.” In a separate interview, D’Es- posito, 41, said Democrats are uniformly unpopular because Pres- ident Biden has done nothing to solve the ever-mounting immigra- tion problem on the Southern bor- der, crime is mounting in the cities and the suburbs, and gas and food prices remain high. Gillen has pulled off upsets of her own. In 2017, she became the first Democrat in a century to be- come Hempstead town supervisor when she defeated Republican An- By JAMES BERNSTEIN I f next year’s race in Long Is- land’s 4th Congressional Dis- trict reminds you of the 1993 hit film Groundhog Day , that is understandable. In the film, every day that passes in the life of the protagonist, weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is February 4th, and almost exactly like its predecessor. The aforementioned political contest coming up in No- vember 2024 features the same candidates who fought for the job last year - and they are making much the same arguments they did the first time around. The one difference is that this time Republican Anthony D’Es- posito is the incumbent while Dem- ocrat Laura Gillen is his challenger. Both the candidates and political ON SCENE experts familiar with the district, which encompasses a large swath of Nassau County’s South Shore, agree that the issues are the same now as they were then: immigra- tion, crime, and inflation. D’Esposito, of Island Park, is a retired NewYork City Police detec- tive and former Hempstead town councilman. In 2022, he pulled a major upset in the heavily Dem- ocratic district when he garnered 51.8 percent of the vote, defeating Gillen by fewer than 10,000 votes out of nearly 271,500 votes cast. By contrast, in 2020, Joe Biden won the district by 55.6 percent, and the then-incumbent, Democrat Kathleen Rice, won re-election by 56.1 percent of the vote. Rice did not seek re-election in 2022. Why would Gillen, a 53-year-old attorney from Rockville Centre, want to run the same race again? “There were thousands of voic- Democrat Laura Gillen celebrates her victory in the Democratic Primary for Long Island’s 4th Congressional District. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito is con dent of his reelection. Déjà Vu Race In 4th CD It’s round two for Gillen and Rep. D’Esposito in 2024 continued on page 19 Paid for by friends of Scott Horowitz...Pamela Horowitz, Treasurer D’Esposito said Democrats are unpopular because of the immigration problem, mounting crime, and high gas and food prices.