Former CNN anchor John Avlon announced Wednesday that he was joining the busy June Democratic primary to take on New York Rep. Nick LaLota, a Long Island Republican who represents a constituency that Joe Biden narrowly carried in 2020. None of the candidates, though, can be sure what the 1st Congressional District will look like once the Empire State finishes its newest round of redistricting.
Avlon, a longtime media personality who co-founded No Labels in 2010, launched his campaign less than a week after New York’s Independent Redistricting Commission approved a new congressional map that made only minimal changes to LaLota’s constituency. But the Democratic-run legislature must approve the map before it can take effect, and it remains to be seen whether lawmakers give it the green light.
One New York Democrat who suggested he’d like to see the proposal get rejected is House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who argued last week that the IRC’s plan failed to “address many of the flaws in the current map drawn.” Even if legislators devise their own lines, however, it’s too early to know how, or if, they’d reshape LaLota’s seat.
Avlon is by no means the only challenger who isn’t waiting to find out before running for the 1st, which currently includes the eastern and northern portions of Suffolk County. Several other Democrats launched campaigns against LaLota last year, and one familiar name ended 2023 with a big financial advantage over all of her intraparty rivals.
Nancy Goroff, who was the party’s 2020 nominee against then-Rep. Lee Zeldin in a prior version of the 1st, finished December with a cash-on-hand advantage of $530,000 to $195,000 over her nearest primary opponent, attorney Craig Herskowitz. Two more Democrats, former state Sen. Jim Gaughran and former congressional staffer Kyle Hill, each had $126,000 banked.
Goroff, who previously served as head of the chemistry department at the local Stony Brook University, publicly responded to Avlon’s launch by saying she would “welcome anyone who is ready to join the fight,” but The New York Times’ Nicholas Fandos reports that she’s getting ready to attack the new candidate’s ties—or lack thereof—to the both the Democratic Party and to the area he wants to represent.
Avlon was a high-level Rudy Giuliani staffer when the Republican served as mayor of New York City and during Giuliani’s subsequent 2008 presidential bid, an era when Avlon argues his boss “was sane.” (Those unfamiliar with Giuliani’s 1999 tirade about ferrets on a radio show he hosted may wish to give it a listen.)
Fandos also writes that Avlon, who went on to serve as editor-in-chief for The Daily Beast and work for CNN, is a longtime Manhattan resident who purchased a home in 2017 in “the wealthy Hamptons enclave” of Sag Harbor.
Avlon, for his part, faulted Goroff for losing her 2020 race to Zeldin 55-45, a defeat that occurred as Donald Trump was winning the same district 51-47. Avlon argued to Fandos that he’d be a nominee who could “appeal and energize not just Democrats but independents.” He also cited Democrat Tom Suozzi’s victory in last week’s special election for the neighboring 3rd District as evidence that his party needs to “play offense” when it comes to crime and border security.
LaLota’s team, meanwhile, did not hesitate to portray his newest opponent as a “Manhattan elitist” who “knows nothing about Suffolk County other than Sag Harbor croquet matches and summer cocktail parties in Bridgehampton.” LaLota himself had $1.3 million stockpiled at the end of last year to defend himself as he waits to learn who he’ll be running against and exactly where he’ll be running.
The existing 1st District favored Biden by a tight 49.5-49.3 margin, making LaLota one of 17 House Republicans in the nation who represents a Biden seat. (The number fell from 18 after Suozzi won the contest to replace George Santos following the Republican’s December expulsion.)
But the 1st District, like Long Island as a whole, swung hard to the right following the 2020 presidential election. LaLota defeated County Legislator Bridget Fleming 56-44 in 2022 at the same time that Zeldin defeated Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul here by a similar 57-43 margin, according to Bloomberg’s Greg Giroux. Democrats are optimistic, though, that Suozzi’s victory presages a better year for the party across Long Island.
