U.S. Congress
The U.S. is divided into 435 congressional districts, each with a population of about 710,000 people. Each district elects a representative to the House of Representatives for a two-year term. Each representative’s salary is $174,000 per year.
The First Congressional District takes in the five East End towns, a portion of southeastern Brookhaven and stretches along the north shore and the midsection of Suffolk County west to Huntington. The district, long a swing district, has elected a Republican in the last five elections and is rated “likely Republican” by four major election forecasters (The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato’s Crystal Ball, and Decision Desk HQ/The Hill.)
This year, John Avlon, Democrat of East Hampton, is challenging first-term incumbent Nick LaLota, Republican of Amityville.
Avlon, 51, received a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and an MBA from Columbia Business School. He is a former anchor and commentator for CNN. Prior to that, he was the editor-in-chief for The Daily Beast. He served as a speechwriter for former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R ). He is the author of four books: Lincoln and the Fight for Peace (2017), Washington’s Farewell (2022), Wing Nuts: Extremism in the Age of Obama (2014) and Independent Nation: How the Vital Center Is Changing American Politics (2004). Avlon is married and the father of two children.
LaLota, 46, is seeking election to a second term in the House. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in 2000, an MBA from Hofstra University in 2012, and a law degree from Hofstra University in 2020. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1996 to 2007. Before running for Congress, LaLota served as trustee in the Village of Amityville from 2013 to 2019. He also has held several government jobs, including chief of staff to Suffolk County Legislator Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffrey (R ), Suffolk County elections commissioner and Long Island staff member in the New York State Senate.
As of Oct. 16, Avlon raised $4,696,256.96 and spent $3,764,403.67 in this election cycle, with $931,853.29 cash on hand entering the last three weeks of the campaign, according to Federal Election Commission data. Lalota raised $4,036,817.72 through Oct. 16 and spent $3,092,441.16, with $1,021,939.11 cash on hand.
Both men call themselves common sense, moderates who want to work in a bipartisan way to get things done in Washington.
On the issues
LaLota stresses public safety and national security issues and says securing the southern border to deal with the migrant crisis is of utmost importance.
He expresses concern for election integrity and supports federal and state voter ID laws. He also calls for limits on absentee balloting, arguing that expanding absentee balloting beyond voters “unable to reach the polls” has “opened the door to fraud by impersonation and coercion.”
LaLota says he does not support a national abortion ban and supports abortion in the first trimester or in cases of rape, incest, or when a mother’s life it at risk. A negative effect of the Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, LaLota says, is that leaving the abortion issue up to the states allows states like New York to have “extremist” policies that allow abortion “up to the moment of birth.” He is opposed to late-term abortions. He calls for parental notification laws when minors seek abortions. He supports the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits the use of federal tax dollars for abortions.
LaLota opposes the New York Equal Rights Amendment ballot proposal because, he said yesterday on X, it “forces schools to include biological males in girls’ sports, and opens the door to taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal migrants.”
Avlon says he is “a strong supporter” of the N.Y. Equal Rights Amendment and will support the federal ERA if elected. He says he also supports adding protections for LGBTQ Americans to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Avlon supports abortion rights. “The decision to have an abortion should be between a woman, her doctor, and her God – not the government,” his website states.
He supports the bipartisan border security bill that didn’t make it to the House floor for a vote this year, despite initially having bipartisan support.
Avlon calls on Congress to come together to work to address climate change, including embracing clean energy technology.
He also calls for federal measures to protect citizens’ right to vote and encourage greater participation in elections. He supports expanding early voting, including mail-in voting.
The campaign has heated up during the home stretch, particularly surrounding the issue of residency. LaLota, a Suffolk County native whose home is on the south shore of western Suffolk, does not live in the First Congressional District. A U.S. representative need not reside in the district they represent, but they must reside in the state. Avlon, who grew up in New York City and has owned a home in East Hampton since 2017, made the house his full-time residence earlier this year.
Debates, interviews and surveys
The candidates have recently participated in debates that can be viewed online:
League of Women Voters debate on Oct. 21.
In addition, the Express News Group has recorded separate, in-depth interviews with both candidates on important issues in this year’s election and is releasing interview segments on six topics in a weekly series called “First District Matters” on the 27Speaks podcast.
Links to the individual episodes are below:
Water Quality and the Environment (not yet published)
The 27Speaks podcast can also be found on Apple Podcasts app or on the web.
Both LaLota and Avlon completed the 2024 candidate survey from Ballotpedia, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides information on American elections, politics and policy. The organization asked each candidate questions about their background, the key messages of their campaign, policy issues important to them, and viewpoints on government and their role as an elected representative.
Read LaLota’s survey responses here.
Read Avlon’s survey responses here.
(Editor’s note: The pages linked above contain a lot of information about the candidates. Be sure to scroll down the page for the survey.)
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