Easthampton businessman Perry Gershon came out on top in a five-way race for the Democratic nomination for the First Congressional District.
Gershon won 35.5 percent of the vote, ahead of Kate Browning who gained 30.26 percent. The two top vote-getters finished well ahead of the remaining candidates on the ballot, none of whom hit the 20 percent mark.
Gershon, 56, focused his campaign on incumbent Rep. Lee Zeldin’s allegiance to President Donald Trump and the policies of the Trump administration.
A Yale University graduate with an MBA from Berkeley, Gershon has had a 25-year career in commercial real estate financing.
Gershon polled 7,226 votes out of 20,331 votes cast, according to unofficial results posted by the Suffolk County Board of Elections.
Browning was second with 6,159 votes. Vivian Viloria-Fisher placed third with 3,314 votes. David Pechefsky won 2,425 votes. Elaine Di Masi finished last with 1,207 votes.
Gershon made a $900,000 loan to his campaign and raised over $1.2 million in contributions, according to the Federal Elections Commission website.
“Tonight’s victory shows that Suffolk County is energized and #NY01 is ready for change,” the candidate said in on Twitter. “We need a strong voice in Washington for universal health care, good jobs, and protecting our environment.”
Zeldin’s campaign committee wasted no time going on the offensive against the newly minted Democratic nominee.
“Congrats to Park Avenue Perry on buying his way into a general election,” the Zeldin for Congress campaign said in a statement.
Zeldin’s campaign pointed at the turnout in today’s election and said it was indicative of how unmotivated Democratic voters in NY-01 are.
Today’s turnout (20,331 voters) was up from 2016, when the Democratic primary election in NY-01 between Anna Throne-Holst and Dave Calone drew just 12,641 voters to the polls (9.3 percent of registered Democrats in the district).
The last time there was a Republican primary election in NY-01 in 2014, when Zeldin faced off against George Demos, 16,765 voters (just under 11 percent of registered Republicans in the district) cast ballots.
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