LaLota Wins Third Term as Gallant Concedes Closest Race of His Career

Rep. Nick LaLota will return to Washington for a third term after Chris Gallant, his Democratic challenger, gave up the 1st District race on Wednesday, ending the closest contest the Republican has faced since he first won the eastern Suffolk seat in 2022.

Unofficial county Board of Elections figures, with 560 of the district's 561 election districts counted, gave LaLota 152,546 votes to Gallant's 145,869. That leaves a gap of 6,677 votes, a little over 2 percentage points. Of LaLota's total, 133,087 votes came on the Republican line and 19,459 on the Conservative line. Absentee ballots had yet to be tallied, and none of the numbers are official until the county finishes its canvass and certifies the count.

Gallant, who held off overnight, said in a statement Wednesday that he had phoned LaLota and congratulated him "as a brother in arms." Both men served in uniform. LaLota is a Navy veteran, and Gallant flies Black Hawk helicopters for the New York Army National Guard.

"Last night, the voters of the First District made their decision, and I fully respect it," Gallant said. He called the congressman "a true Long Islander" and wished him well in the new term.

His tone had been more guarded a few hours earlier. In a statement released soon after midnight, with the margin still moving, Gallant said, "At this time, there are still votes to count, and every single one of them deserves to be counted." He argued then that the tight finish was a sign Long Islanders were unhappy with the status quo.

LaLota claimed victory late Tuesday at Stereo Garden, a Patchogue event hall where Suffolk Republicans had gathered to watch the returns. He thanked his supporters and told voters who had backed his opponent that his door was open to them, too. He said he would work with members of either party who wanted to deliver for Long Island, and that he would keep pushing to cut taxes and bring more federal money home to Suffolk County.

The result was a far cry from his earlier wins. In 2024, LaLota beat Democrat John Avlon by 42,745 votes, a spread of roughly 10 points. Two years before that, he defeated Democrat Bridget Fleming by about 11 points. This time his edge was closer to 2.

Gallant is a former air traffic controller and a volunteer firefighter. In September his bid became national news after photographs from years earlier showing him modeling for a seller of fetish gear came to light. He acknowledged that the images were genuine and stayed in. In his concession, he said he was not stepping away from public life, and that he remained a firefighter and a pilot who would look for the next way "to be useful to this community."

The eastern Suffolk race played out against a national tide that ran the other way. Democrats won control of the House and the Senate alike on Tuesday, picking up seats in states that had long been safe for Republicans. By Wednesday morning, the party held 54 or more Senate seats and had cleared the 218 seats needed to run the House.

Next door in the 2nd Congressional District, which takes in parts of both Suffolk and Nassau, Republican Rep. Andrew Garbarino was ahead of Patrick Halpin, the Democratic nominee and a onetime Suffolk County executive, 125,338 votes to 119,079 in unofficial returns, a margin of 6,259. In Nassau, Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen, the two Democrats in the delegation, were both reelected.

Further up the ballot, Gov. Kathy Hochul carried Suffolk by only 4,040 votes over Bruce Blakeman, the Republican who runs Nassau County, 270,778 to 266,738, in the unofficial county count, while beating him statewide by about 20 points.

LaLota will be sworn in again in January, when Democrats take over the House majority. All Suffolk totals in this story remain unofficial until the Board of Elections completes its count of absentee and other outstanding ballots and certifies the results.