41 Days to Go: Laura Gillen

Sep 25, 2024

Who: Laura Gillen

Where: NY-04 (southern part of Nassau County on Long Island)

Why: Laura Gillen was one of several New York State Democrats who lost close House races in 2022 when voter turnout was lackluster. The former Hempstead Town Supervisor is trying again, hoping to unseat first-term moderate incumbent Anthony D’Esposito, a retired New York City police detective.

Conveniently, D’Esposito was the subject of a New York Times article yesterday. The NYT reported that D’Esposito may have violated House ethics rules on nepotism by giving jobs in his district office to both his fiancée’s daughter and also a woman with whom he was having an affair.

In a district made of up NYC commuters for whom law and order are top of mind, Gillen has been front and center with a message of securing the border and funding the police. One area of clear difference between her and D’Esposito is gun control. Gillen, an attorney and Hofstra University adjunct law school professor, supports common sense gun legislation and extreme risk protection orders, which temporarily remove firearms from people who pose a risk to themselves or others. D’Esposito opposes banning assault weapons.

Two years ago, D’Esposito defeated Gillen 52%-48%. Using today’s boundaries of NY-04 following redistricting, which are slightly more advantageous to Gillen than they were in 2022, Biden would have defeated Trump by 15 points in 2020. Gillen’s biggest asset may be an enthusiastic turnout for the Harris/Walz ticket, especially from nonwhite voters who mostly stayed at home in 2022.

Gillen is also leading D’Esposito in fundraising, which is key in the nation’s most expensive media market.

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