Shunning House race was the logical choice for D'Esposito all along
Anthony D’Esposito, inspector general at the U.S. Department of Labor, far left, at a White House meeting of an anti-fraud task force with, among others, Cabinet members Markwayne Mullin, Linda McMahon, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Scott Bessent. Credit: Provided to Newsday Opinion
All the insider suspense has ended over whether Anthony D'Esposito would run for his former House of Representatives seat against incumbent Rep. Laura Gillen.
The final answer is an anticlimactic "No."
The county GOP, headed by chairman Joe Cairo, went at the last minute with Town of Hempstead Receiver of Taxes Jeanine Driscoll, about whom there had been little or no open speculation.
Oddly the D'Esposito question lasted more than a year, right up to Tuesday's do-or-die deadline for the Nassau County Republican Committee to nominate a 4th Congressional District candidate.
All along D'Esposito's opportunity to become the inspector general for the U.S. Labor Department looked like an offer he couldn't, shouldn't and wouldn't refuse. Nominated last April, he was sworn into the job in January.
Through the appointment process, D'Esposito refused to quash doubts that he would stay put in this enforcement position which follows up his previous career as a New York Police Department detective. In a Senate confirmation hearing in October, he could not be persuaded to say if he'd run against Gillen this year. "Having discussions about the future are questions that I can't answer," the Island Park Republican awkwardly told Sen. Richard Blumenthal.
Talk of another House run continued from the Nassau GOP. Cairo was D'Esposito's political champion during his seven-year tenure on the Hempstead Town Council. While in Congress, D'Esposito, as a team player, had worked to push colleague George Santos out the door, helping erase Cairo's embarrassing mistake of backing Santos in 2022.
Of CD4, Cairo said in November 2025: "Our team will make an announcement in the near future." By last month GOP sources indicated D'Esposito was about to leave the IG job and face a third contest against Gillen.
Cairo still kept all machinations close to his vest. He submitted Valley Stream Mayor John DeGrace's name as a space holder who withdrew as planned pending the candidacy of Driscoll. That way, Cairo would remain in full control of the nomination rather than surrender to the unpredictability of a primary or someone he did not want. It bought the GOP time to reveal their plans.
D'Esposito was far from assured of winning had he run. Gillen and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee were prepared to revive the vexing allegations from two years ago that he hired an intimate friend as well as his fiancee's daughter to work in his office.
D'Esposito lost to Gillen in 2024 despite Trump winning Nassau County. For this year's midterms, polls and history suggest Trump's party will lose the House majority. So even if he was to return, D'Esposito would face the prospect of joining a clout-deprived minority in the chamber. He's now reportedly paid upward of $200,000; Congress members get a $174,000 basic salary.
For all we know right now Driscoll has the same chance against Gillen as D'Esposito would.
For his part he remains in the D.C. spotlight. He's been leading a politically sensitive probe of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, already causing a splash.
In the end D'Esposito made the logical choice for himself. The floating of his name in the election added up to a big sideshow.
Could the national party really single out Cairo for blame if Democrats win back the House? The GOP pressure now is off both him and D'Esposito.
The only mystery is why they made this a mystery.
Columnist Dan Janison's opinions are his own.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
