Patrick Halpin

Democratic

BACKGROUND

• Halpin, 73, of Oak Beach, is a registered Democrat and is running on the Democratic and Working Families party lines in the general election.  
• He was Suffolk County executive from 1988 to 1991, and served 17 years on the Suffolk County Water Authority Board, most recently as chairman from 2018 to 2023. He also was a Suffolk County legislator from 1979 to 1982 and a New York State assemblyman from 1982 to 1987.
• Halpin has been a member of the Town of Babylon Industrial Development Agency and the planning board. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.

ISSUES

• Halpin said his top issue is “making life more affordable” and points to his efforts establishing the nonprofit Long Island Housing Partnership when he was county executive, to increase the affordable housing stock for families and seniors.

• He said the “cost of health is bankrupting Long Islanders” and supports expanding Medicare so that individuals who want to buy into the program for their healthcare coverage can do so, while also allowing those who prefer their private insurer to keep their coverage.

• Halpin said he is concerned by “quality-of-life issues,” noting his opposition to the construction of an Amazon warehouse in Holbrook and an immigrant detention center in Holtsville, saying they will “exacerbate already bad traffic and pollute our drinking water and air quality.”