East Hampton Dems in family feud

Daily Point

Mayor Larsen, Supervisor Burke-Gonzalez, spouses quarrel over campaign cash, party control

It's a regular Hatfield-McCoy feud, East Hampton Democrat-style.

One faction of Democrats is accusing the other of "party raiding" — or getting people to change their party registration to Democrat — and receiving illegal campaign contributions. The other side is making a run for control of the entire party.

And the primary is still months away.

East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen is primarying East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez for the party's line, which is a big deal since Democrats outnumber Republicans 3-1 in East Hampton. Win the primary, win the general election.

Not content with just challenging the town's top elected official, Larsen and his backers are running candidates for every one of the 18 town Democratic committee districts, a total of 36 candidates in all.

And Suffolk County Democratic Committee chairman Rich Schaffer called Larsen out for receiving campaign contributions over the legal limits. Larsen said the cap is $1,000 per person, corporation or LLC in the supervisor's primary.

As a result, Larsen said he returned some contributions.

"... we went through everything with our counsel and it turns out people did donate more than they should have," Larsen told The Point. "Those mistakes have been rectified. ... We admit mistakes, fix the mistakes and move forward."

When asked by The Point how much money was returned, Larsen replied: "That's all I'm going to say."

A January filing with the state Board of Elections lists Larsen's campaign raising $132,000 and having $84,388.96 in cash on hand. An amended filing on Feb. 10 has the same figures. Burke-Gonzalez's January filing lists $500 raised in contributions and a balance of $13,213.50.

Bryan Sokolowski, political director for the county Democratic committee, said Larsen's fundraising should give voters pause. "If Larsen cannot properly manage his own campaign's finances, how can the voters of East Hampton trust his ability to manage their taxpayer dollars in any elected position?" Sokolowski wrote in a statement to The Point.

Larsen said his experience overseeing East Hampton Village's $25 million budget over five years with "almost zero tax increases" should assuage voters.

As for his campaign to unseat the town's committee members, Larsen said his group has endorsed 36 candidates, two in each district. His wife, Lisa, is even running for District 5 — against Burke-Gonzalez's husband, Joe.

The feud deepened when two committee members who supported Larsen's bid for the Democratic line for supervisor at the January nominating convention lost support from the existing party organization.

Larsen said Francis Bock nominated him and Barbara Layton seconded the motion.

Committee member Joan McGivern was the only other committee member to vote for Larsen. As a result, Layton and McGivern lost party support and are now running for committee seats with Larsen's group, he said. Bock, a longtime town trustee, escaped unscathed because of his popularity at the polls, Larsen said, and is being cross-endorsed.

Sokolowski said Larsen has been "engaging in blatant party raiding" by getting non-Democrats to register for the committee primary. Sokolowski said that "does not strengthen our party, it fuels Larsen's own personal self-interests."

Earlier this year, county Democrats issued a cease-and-desist letter to Larsen's campaign for creating a committee name similar to the existing town Democratic Party's name. Larsen changed his group's name. 

— Mark Nolan mark.nolan@newsday.com

Pencil Point

Testing the patient

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Data Point

Democratic enrollment down across all LI congressional districts

Newly released data from the New York State Board of Elections shows that no Long Island congressional district was spared a decline in Democratic enrollment. Each of the region's four CDs showed a decline in active Democratic voter registrations and an increase in unaffiliated voters, also referred to as blanks. Declines in Republican registrations were reported, but were only slight.

The Point previously reported a 14,300-voter enrollment decline of Democrats on Long Island — 6,388 in Nassau County and around 8,000 in Suffolk — since February 2025. In the same period, the number of unaffiliated voters climbed by 48,000.

In Suffolk's CD1, represented by Republican Nick LaLota, active Democratic registrations were at 180,008, down by 4,791 voters since February 2025. Republican registrations dropped as well — by 1,516 — to 191,206. An additional 1,735 voters were registered as unaffiliated, for a total of 179,380 blanks.

In CD2, represented by Republican Andrew Garbarino, there were 175,386 voters registered as Democrats and 166,337 as Republicans as of Feb. 20, 2026, a decline of 3,108 and 982 in each party, respectively. Another 158,675 voters were unaffiliated, an increase of 3,304.

Democrat Tom Suozzi's CD3, which includes parts of three counties, including Queens, had 207,726 voters registered as Democrats, 148,153 as Republicans and 163,469 unaffiliated. This indicated a 1,460 drop in Democratic registrations across the district and 3,507 more unaffiliated registrations. While the Queens sliver of CD3 saw an increase of 1,509 Democratic registrations, the party's registrations in the Nassau portion fell by 2,641. Republican registrations were largely unchanged across the district.

In CD4, where Democrat Laura Gillen's seat is considered a prime target for Republicans to flip, Democratic voter registrations dropped by 3,435 in the last year to 224,023, while Republican registrations dropped by 941 to 160,563. A total of 146,879 voters were unaffiliated, up by 3,285 since last year.

Active voters have cast a ballot within the span of two federal elections or have confirmed their address with their local board of elections.

— Karthika Namboothiri karthika.namboothiri@newsday.com

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