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News 12 Staff

LIPRIMARYGUEST262326_2026-06-23-06-27-18

It is primary day and two young Democrats are running to try and challenge Congressman Nick Lalota in the 1st district. And joining us now live from our newsroom is one of those candidates, Lucas Ventura. Lucas, thanks for joining us this morning. Thanks for coming here to our Beth Page studio. So we want to give the candidates an opportunity to make their last-minute pitch to voters here. What do you want them to know, specifically Democrats who may not be familiar with you or your opponents since you're both newcomers. Listen, thank you for having me first and foremost. Um, you know what I would want to impress upon voters in the 11th hour of this election is that, you know, if they're tired of the same old, same old in the politics of the Democratic Party, if they wanna see a new vision for pushing us forward, for truly tackling the issues of our day with ingenuity and, and ideas and, and vigor and passion, then I am the person, uh, for you, um, you know, I'm, I'm completely grassroots funded. I don't take money from anyone other than the constituency and. You know, I think that makes me the right leader for us to go into a new generation for the Democratic Party. When you speak about a new generation. You're a young guy, 25 years old, a law student, uh, you know, lifelong Long Islander from Northport. Uh, what about the experience factor? What would be your message to Democrats who are saying, listen, we need somebody who really is going to be able to take on Nick Laoda if we're going to win back the seat? Right? You know, I think that's a perfectly fair question to pose, you know, but I do have experience. I've worked in civil rights law. I've worked in journalism. I've done. Organizing work I've worked the congressional office on campaigns um so though I might be a young person, I do think I have the requisite experience and you know what I might uh lack in traditional credentials I more than make up for in my passion and my desire to serve, and I think that, uh, the integrity and the desire to serve for your constituency is the first and foremost concern. Lucas, lastly, if you had to boil down your campaign to one issue and and promise voters I can deliver on this, what would that issue be? I think I can most definitely deliver on my desire to uh try and tackle corruption um you know I've always said that all the issues that we face in this country are are downstream of our corruption problem and you know I definitely think that I can work definitely even in a bipartisan matter with uh with the Republicans in Congress on on fixing corruption so that we can truly tackle the issues of our day. Lucas Ventura is one of the Democratic candidates in the first congressional district on your primary ballot today. Lucas, thanks for the time. Thank you.

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LIPRIMARYGUEST362326_2026-06-23-06-27-14

It is primary day in one of the races we're watching. East Hampton town supervisor. Joining us now is Jerry Larson, the current East Hampton village mayor, who's running against the incumbent for supervisor. Jerry, thanks for joining us this morning. Um, this is a campaign that has a lot of attention across the island, even though it is specific to East Hampton. Tell us about how you're feeling here going into election day. I, I'm feeling really, really, uh, really good about this election. We've run a very good campaign. We've taken on all of the issues which there are many, many issues here facing our residents in East Hampton. There's been corruption in our building department. There's now a, a scandal involving water, drinking water, who knew what, when. So, there's so many problems facing our, um, our residents that it's time for a change. And not only am I running for supervisor, but we have 38 challengers, uh, running in our committee seats. And if people don't know what the committee seats, they're, they're super important because the committee seats really, uh, Really play a huge role in selecting who will be our, in our town politics. And those seats are really important and they shouldn't be taken lightly. These are seats that should be filled by people who live here year-round, that, that have raised their families here and that have, have jobs and depend on our community for their living. And I say that because there's no urgency to fix our building department. We've had a building department that has 700 building permits, uh, in backlog, and there's no urgency from this current administration to fix that, even though the building and the real estate industries out here on the East End are huge for people, and they, they depend on this for their livelihood and their living, and, and it's not getting fixed, and that is gonna be. Let, let me ask you real quick because we're running out of time. You mentioned there are races up and down the ballot. You have spearheaded that. What would a win today mean for you and your slate of candidates going up against the establishment Democrats in the party? A win would show that the residents have had enough of the current administration, and a win would really set us up for a new direction, a better direction, like we have in the village under my tenure as mayor. And the residents will have a, um, you know, a better future for East Hampton. All right, Jerry Larson, thanks so much for the time. We appreciate it. Thank you very much, Doug. Have a great day and we'll, hopefully, we'll see you tonight. All right, and we asked the other.

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LIPRIMARYGUEST462326

It is primary day and one of the races we're watching is for East Hampton Town Supervisor. The incumbent in the race, supervisor Kathy Burke Gonzalez, didn't return our request to join us here on the morning show, but here's part of an interview I did with her earlier this spring. Do you feel an extra burden or added pressure considering the fact that it seems there's more on the line than just even your race, the supervisor's race here when it comes to the party and the town? Sure, well, I think the folks that know me that have voted for me, I mean back in my the November 25 election, over 5000 East Hampton residents voted for me in that in that. Race, um, so I think people know where I come from. I lead from the heart that it's, oh, I've always looked at what's best for our community and, uh, give great care for the community. Uh, we, you know, our administration has supported our town staff because without town staff we can't provide the, the, the services and programs that. Uh, the town offers and, uh, I'm confident that folks, um, folks know me, they know the, the work that we've done, we've gotten a lot accomplished in the last almost 2.5 years, and, you know, I'm grateful for that.

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Candidates from various Primary Day races join News 12 live to give their final pitch to Long Island voters.

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