Air Force vet Marvin Williams to take on Jeanine Driscoll in Nassau GOP congressional primary for right to challenge U.S. Rep. Laura Gillen

WASHINGTON — An insurgent Republican has qualified to run in the June primary against the last-second candidate Nassau County GOP leaders recruited to challenge Democrat U.S. Rep. Laura Gillen.

The county Board of Elections confirmed Wednesday that Marvin Williams, 64, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and minister from Garden City, had filed enough valid signatures to qualify for the June 23 primary ballot.

That means Jeanine Driscoll, 59 — a local Hempstead tax official picked last month by Nassau GOP Chairman Joseph Cairo and his lieutenants when their first choice, former congressman Anthony D’Esposito, decided not to run — must first defeat Williams for a shot to take on Gillen.

With one month before the primary, Driscoll campaign adviser Thomas Dunham declined Wednesday to talk about the Williams candidacy directly. He said Driscoll "remains focused on defeating Gillen."

The Rockville Centre Democrat is seeking a second term in New York’s 4th Congressional District, located entirely in Nassau County.

Williams said affordability and term limits are part of his platform. But he also said no other Republican candidate is better positioned to peel away voters Gillen needs because he is someone "who can speak credibly to people of faith, veterans and communities of color."

While Williams said he does not intend to make race a central issue, he offered, "What is apparent is that I am a Black man." He described himself as a Black man who also is a conservative, a 30-year U.S. military veteran and an ordained Presbyterian minister — "someone who Gillen cannot paint as an ‘extremist.’"

 Williams said he is not being invited to any official candidate forums arranged by county party leaders, but he said that’s OK. "I’m out there, meeting with people, and the people are getting to know me."

There was no response from Cairo to a request made through his spokesman for comment on Driscoll forcing a primary.

Williams had himself been a potential backup choice when D’Esposito decided not to run, but Cairo and lieutenants instead picked Driscoll. Among those also endorsing Driscoll are former Long Island GOP Rep. Peter King. But Williams said "party insiders" will not decide the winner.

Williams’ GOP congressional bid comes as all four Black Republicans currently serving in the U.S. House are leaving at the end of the year, either through retirements or to run for other office.