Updated- 10:55 p.m.: John Avlon trounced Nancy Goroff in the Democratic Party primary Tuesday in New York’s First Congressional District, winning 70% of the votes cast to Goroff’s 30%, with 96% of the NY-01 election districts reporting.
“The positive defeats the negative,” Avlon told supporters gathered at the Riverhead Brew House on the Peconic Riverfront in downtown Riverhead. “We showed that the politics of addition defeats the politics of division,” he said to cheers from the crowd.
“We know we face a lot of serious challenges in our community and in our country. But this, this is the time, this is the place to be happy warriors,” Avlon declared, “fighting the good fight together, side by side and unafraid. Now is the time for all Suffolk County Democrats to come together.”
Avlon said with unity, Democrats can win NY-01 and win back the House.
Goroff conceded the race to Avlon at about 10 p.m., an hour after the polls closed. In an emailed statement issued by her campaign, she congratulated Avlon and called for the party to unify behind him “to defeat Nick LaLota and flip this seat in November.”
“We’re just beginning the work of bringing people together,” Avlon said. “The next stage of the campaign is the real work — you all know., it starts right now. Our base is fired up and ready to go this fall. But we’ve gotta do more. We need to reach out to independent voters… to voters on the center right — all people of good faith, who believe as I do, and as you do, that there is always more that unites us than divides us as Americans, because that’s how you build a coalition to win a general election,” Avlon said.
“We’re common sense Democrats,” he said. “We common sense Democrats, Suffolk County Democrats, we’re liberal patriots and pragmatic problem-solvers. We believe in defending democracy, standing up to extremism and promoting broad prosperity by rebuilding the middle class. We try to practice the politics of the Golden Rule. We believe in individual liberty, equal opportunity and drainage and generational responsibility. We find common ground to pursue the common good. That’s just common sense. That’s what most Americans want,” Avlon said.
Avlon, 51, of Sag Harbor is an ex-CNN political commentator and former editor-in-chief of the national news website The Daily Beast.
First-term Republican incumbent Nick LaLota of Amityville, punched back at Avlon in an emailed statement issued by his campaign.
“With primaries behind us, our common sense conservative campaign feels confident about our race against CNN commentator and Manhattan elitist John Avlon,” LaLota said in the statement. “We start the general election campaign on the right side of the issues that matter most, especially border and economy. The wind is in our campaign sails: We’re up double digits in the polls, with more than three times cash on hand, and over 1,000 fired-up volunteers. After re-redistricting, this is a district that President Trump won by 1.8 points in 2020 and 9.8 points in 2016,” said LaLota. He accused Avlon of taking “extreme leftist positions on CNN and as a NYC resident” and said his opponent “doesn’t understand Suffolk County.”
Alek Lewis contributing reporting.
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