Ann E. Welker D

Suffolk County Legislator, 2nd District

Credit: James Escher

Welker, 62, of Southampton, a registered Democrat, is running on the Democratic and Working Families Party line. She is seeking her second term in the Suffolk Legislature.
Welker was a Southampton Town trustee for three terms from 2018-2023. She was an exercise physiologist with the cardiac rehabilitation department at Southampton Stony Brook University Hospital for about 10 years before leaving to serve as a town trustee.
She received a bachelor's degree in business from Adelphi University, and a master of arts degree, also from Adelphi.

Water quality/climate change. Coastal resilience and sea level rise are "priorities in that Suffolk County’s a canary in the coal mine with its geographical location" positioned near the Atlantic Ocean.
Workforce housing/affordability. Housing, traffic and quality of life issues are "inextricably connected on the East End," Welker said. She said she would work "with the villages and towns, New York State and the county, collaborating to focus on these issues."
Commercial waterfront preservation. Welker helped pass and enact a bill this year to designate up to 2,400 acres of commercial waterfront property for possible preservation. She said the law "preserves not only the physical shoreline but also hundreds of jobs in Suffolk County for generations."

Raheem Soto