Councilwoman Jodi Giglio is seeking the Republican nomination for Riverhead town supervisor.
Giglio made the announcement at a campaign fundraiser last night at Outerbanks Restaurant, according to people who attended the event. The councilwoman said she has submitted her resume to the committee, seeking to be screened for the post.
Councilman John Dunleavy, who was at the event, said he’s not going to get into the campaign fray.
“I will support whoever the committee picks,” said Dunleavy, who is currently the longest-serving member of the all-Republican town board.
“We’re all Republicans and we have to stand by whoever the Republican committee picks,” Dunleavy said. “We’ll see what happens.”
Dunleavy and Giglio were both re-elected to the town board in 2013, after a primary season in which Dunleavy seemed torn between supporting and running with Giglio and supporting Anthony Coates, a Democrat-turned-Republican who had the support of incumbent supervisor Sean Walter. At one point, Dunleavy was even circulating nominating petitions with Coates’ name on them.
Supervisor Sean Walter said he heard of Giglio’s announcement by text messages last night as soon as she made it.
“I plan to run on my record and as soon as the temperatures reach about 30 degrees I’ll be walking door to door as I always do,” Walter said. “I’ve already got palm cards and pens on order,” he said. “Ultimately it’s the voters who decide elections,” Walter said.
The supervisor previously stated he would mount a primary campaign should the Republican committee decide to give its designation to the councilwoman or any other candidate.
Giglio did not return telephone or text messages seeking comment, but confirmed the announcement this morning during an interview on WRIV radio.
The committee will screen all candidates for all offices, whether or not the positions are already occupied by Republican incumbents who’d like to seek re-election, GOP chairman Mason Haas told RiverheadLOCAL last week.
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