Former Riverhead Councilwoman Catherine Kent announces run for First Legislative District

The First Legislative District race looks to be a battle between two women named Catherine.

Former Riverhead Council Member Catherine Kent, a Democrat, has announced her candidacy for Suffolk County Legislature.

Kent will face Republican Catherine Stark, longtime legislative aide to the current incumbent legislator, Al Krupski, who is not seeking re-election in order to run for Southold Town supervisor this year.

Kent served one four-year term on the Riverhead Town Board and then mounted an unsuccessful challenge to incumbent Supervisor Yvette Aguiar in 2021.

“I grew up on the North Fork. I raised my family here and it’s really important to me that we retain our character out here, that we preserve the special character of our community,” Kent said in an interview today.

“I intend to fight to protect open space and farmland, to secure resources for clean water infrastructure,” she said.

Kent said she worked closely with Krupski when she served as chairperson of the governance committee for the Peconic Estuary Program.

Environmental issues are “key,” Kent said. “We live in a very fragile area.” She said she is proud of putting together Riverhead Town government’s first environmental committee.

“Land preservation is important. Agriculture is important. We need to work very hard on helping our farmers survive. We love the open farmland and the benefits of their wonderful produce. Land costs and other expenses on Long Island make this is a very difficult area for farming,” she said.

“I think this is a time when we see families struggling to put food on their tables. We need to keep the cost of living down by holding the line on taxes,” she said.

People want to see elected officials who work together in a nonpartisan way to get the job done, Kent said. “Al has a knack for bringing people together,” she said. “I think that’s what people want to see. I think people are weary of watching the fighting that goes on and they just want public officials that are going to work together for them,” Kent said.

The “most important part” of an elected official’s work is constituent services, “helping people day to day,” Kent said. A retired elementary school teacher, Kent spent nearly her whole career in education working in the Riverhead Central School District.

Kent said in an interview today she has the backing of the Suffolk County Democratic Committee and will receive the party’s official designation when the committee has its upcoming convention. Suffolk County Democratic Committee Chairperson Rich Schaffer could not immediately be reached for comment.

Kent, 66, is divorced and the mother of three adult children. She lives in Baiting Hollow, where her parents settled when they moved east from Westbury when Kent was a small child. She attended the three-room Baiting Hollow school for kindergarten through second grade. She is a Riverhead High School graduate and earned a bachelor of science degree in education from Central Methodist University in Fayette, Missouri. She also holds a master’s degree in liberal arts from Stony Brook University.

Editor’s note: This story has been amended to correct the name of the Peconic Estuary Program Committee. It has also been amended to clarify the candidate’s comments regarding the challenges of agriculture in the region.