Democrats' blue wave did damage on recently red Long Island, including in America's largest township
Long Island did not escape the blue wave during the midterm elections on Tuesday, even in territory that went red in recent election cycles.
In the four congressional races, two seats stayed solidly Democratic, and two Republicans appear to have narrowly held on.
Democrats also flipped America's largest township, the Town of Hempstead, a Republican stronghold for most of the last century. The municipality, which has a larger population than four states, turned blue when Democrat Joe Schianablo stunned everyone with a win in the race for town supervisor.
"Residents on both sides were frustrated because they saw they weren't being put ahead of the politically connected," Schianablo said.
It was a blow to Nassau County's Republican machine, and possibly a rebuke of its decision last year to appoint John Ferretti as supervisor, giving him an incumbent's advantage.
Voters also sent Rep. Laura Gillen, the town's first Democratic supervisor in a century, back to Washington with a win in the 4th Congressional District.
"We are standing in front of what is probably [one of] the most corrupt towns in America. I started getting it on the right track," Gillen said. "[Residents] are getting crushed by the affordability crisis. It's getting hard to get by and they want to see people go to Washington to solve problems."
Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi was elected to a sixth term representing the 3rd District.
Those wins aside, Long Island remains purple, a swing suburb. Suffolk County Republican Reps. Nick LaLota and Andrew Garbarino, representing the 1st and 2nd districts, respectively, appear to have eked out wins -- a stark contrast to two years ago.
Pat Halpin in the 2nd District has not conceded defeat.
"[LaLota and Garbarino] were running in a red wave then, and last night was not a blue wave; it was a blue tsunami. So they both really had to swim against the tide," political consultant Michael Dawidziak said.
Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who cruised into office last year, failed to carry his own county in his gubernatorial race loss to incumbent Kathy Hochul.
Midterm elections are often a referendum on the sitting president. Analysts say Blakeman's close ties to President Trump likely hurt him, and dragged down members of the GOP across the island.
"It was totally out of his control. [What] was happening in Washington is happening across the country," retired Republican Rep. Peter King said.
