Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Early voting begins Saturday, Oct. 24 and continues through Sunday, Nov. 1.
Riverhead voters will choose a town supervisor, a representative in Congress, state lawmakers, statewide officials and county officials this fall.
This guide covers the November General Election for residents of the Town of Riverhead for the following offices: town supervisor, House of Representatives, State Senate, State Assembly, County Comptroller and County Clerk.
A Riverhead mailing address alone does not establish town residence; use the state voter lookup to confirm your districts and Election Day polling place.
Information checked Oct. 21, 2026. Party lines below identify the ballot lines on which candidates appear; they do not necessarily establish a candidate’s personal party enrollment. Candidate positions are paraphrased from campaign materials, questionnaires and published reporting.
Voting dates and places
Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3. Vote at your assigned polling place that day. (Find your polling place.)
During early voting, Suffolk voters may use any county early-voting site. The early-voting site in Riverhead is the Town Hall cafeteria, 4 W. Second St. See separate story for voting times each day during early voting: Voting in the Nov. 3 election: Here’s what you need to know
Sample ballot
The ballot for voters in Riverhead Town. Sample ballot image provided by the Suffolk County Board of Elections. (Click image to enlarge or download.)
Residents of other Suffolk County towns can find their sample ballots here.
Riverhead town supervisor.
Vote for one. The supervisor oversees town administration, prepares the tentative budget and serves as chief fiscal officer and chair of the five-member Town Board. Budgets, local laws and many major decisions require Town Board approval.
Term: Two years.
Salary: $110,000.
The supervisor contest this year pits incumbent Jerry Halpin against Council Member Ken Rothwell.
Jerry Halpin
Ballot name: Jerome Halpin. Lines: Democratic and Taxpayers First. Incumbent.
Halpin took office in January after defeating then-Supervisor Tim Hubbard by 37 votes in 2025. Halpin’s first term was shortened to one year as part of the state’s transition to even-year local elections.
A minister, he founded a nondenominational Christian church with his wife in 2004. His bid for another term centers on managing town finances and pursuing economic development while preserving Riverhead’s rural character.
Ken Rothwell
Ballot name: Kenneth T. Rothwell. Lines: Republican and Conservative.
Rothwell joined the Town Board by appointment in January 2021, won election later that year and was reelected in 2025. A Wading River funeral home owner and volunteer firefighter, he argues that his business experience and Town Board work equip him to lead the town and expand its commercial tax base.
Where they stand
EPCAL: Halpin favors state economic-development assistance, rail opportunities and a mix of employment uses. He said he is not currently in favor of data centers. Rothwell emphasizes high-tech employment, developer-financed infrastructure and opposition to taxpayer-funded rail expansion. He did not directly answer the hypothetical data-center question at the Oct. 15 forum.
Taxes: Halpin defends a proposed budget within the state tax cap and cites retirement incentives and financial management. Rothwell pledges not to override the cap and points to amendments reducing a proposed tax increase. A reduction in a proposed increase does not mean existing tax bills would fall.
Housing and downtown: Halpin favors continued affordable housing contributions with attention to quality of life, flooding and existing businesses. Rothwell opposes additional housing complexes, citing service costs, and emphasizes completing Town Square. His estimate of roughly two years to completion is a campaign statement.
Preservation: Both support preserving the 4-H property and studying Jamesport’s future. Neither supplied an acquisition timetable for the 4-H parcel. Both also support townwide property reassessment.
Waste: Halpin emphasizes food-scrap collection, reuse and waste reduction. Rothwell favors revisiting recycling arrangements, waste-to-energy disposal and an ecology center at Youngs Avenue.
Tax incentives: Both favor reform. Halpin questions apartment incentives and benefits that reduce fire-department revenue. Rothwell favors limits on incentive duration and amount while retaining a local IDA.
Representative in Congress
First Congressional District. Vote for one. House members vote on federal laws, taxes and spending, conduct oversight of the executive branch and assist residents dealing with federal agencies. Riverhead’s federal concerns include the Navy’s Calverton cleanup, drinking water infrastructure, health coverage, agriculture and federal tax policy.
Term: Two years. Salary: $174,000.
Christopher Gallant
Ballot name: Christopher J Gallant. Line: Democratic.
Gallant is a military pilot, former FAA air traffic controller, union leader and volunteer firefighter. His campaign describes a career in public service rather than elected office. His platform calls for federal investments to reduce housing and energy costs, protect Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, improve water systems and transportation, and strengthen coastal resilience. He also emphasizes support for first responders and accountability in Congress.
Nick LaLota
Ballot name: Nicholas J LaLota. Lines: Republican and Conservative. Incumbent.
LaLota, a Naval Academy graduate and former Navy officer, was first elected to Congress in 2022 and reelected in 2024. His previous government roles include Suffolk elections commissioner and chief of staff to the County Legislature. He emphasizes tax relief, law enforcement and federal investment in Long Island.
LaLota voted for the final 2025 federal tax-and-spending bill, H.R. 1. He highlights its temporary increase in the state and local tax deduction cap and defends its Medicaid work requirements and provider-tax changes as accountability measures. Locally, he secured $2.25 million for a water main extension serving 28 Calverton homes threatened by contamination from the former Grumman site.
New York State Senate
First Senate District. Vote for one. State senators vote on state laws and the budget, including school aid, Medicaid, environmental programs and local-government powers. The Senate also confirms many gubernatorial appointments.
Term: Two years. Salary: $142,000 (base).
Chris Murray
Ballot name: E Christopher Murray. Lines: Democratic and Working Families.
Murray is an attorney and environmental advocate from the Setauket area with more than 30 years of legal experience. His campaign points to his work with Citizens Campaign for the Environment, the Autism Legal Foundation and Suffolk County Community College’s Board of Trustees.
He proposes reducing the state sales tax from 4% to 3%, expanding access to affordable health care, protecting the aquifer and keeping hyperscale data centers off Long Island. He argues that joining the Senate’s Democratic majority would improve the district’s influence over funding decisions. In the League of Women Voters debate, he supported restricting local assistance to ICE and spoke favorably about financing statewide health coverage through progressive taxation.
Anthony Palumbo
Ballot name: Anthony H Palumbo. Lines: Republican and Conservative. Incumbent.
Palumbo, a New Suffolk attorney and former Suffolk prosecutor, won election to the Assembly in 2013 and the Senate in 2020. He is seeking a fourth Senate term. He favors local housing initiatives, including Community Housing Fund programs, and says new housing must account for water infrastructure and environmental protection.
Palumbo supports maintaining state PFAS protections and a more gradual renewable-energy transition. He opposes the proposed New York Health Act, citing financing and hospital reimbursement concerns. He favors coordination between local and federal law enforcement in limited circumstances while opposing deputizing town police to enforce federal immigration law. He argues his bipartisan legislative work delivers results despite his party’s minority status.
New York State Assembly
Second Assembly District. Vote for one. Assembly members vote on state laws and the budget. School aid, housing policy, public health, state taxes, water protection and the rules governing town government all fall within the Legislature’s work. Three candidates appear on the ballot.
Term: Two years. Salary: $142,000 (base)
Michael Szika
Ballot name: Michael J Szika. Line: Democratic.
Szika is the Democratic candidate listed by the Board of Elections. The sources reviewed for this guide did not establish a sufficiently detailed, attributable biography or campaign platform.
Jodi Giglio
Ballot name: Jodi A Giglio. Lines: Republican and Conservative. Incumbent.
Giglio, a business owner and former Riverhead Town Board member, is seeking a fourth Assembly term. First elected to the town board in 2009, she moved to the Assembly following the 2020 election.
She calls for restraining state spending and reducing the cost of living, favors a gradual renewable-energy transition and identifies public safety as a priority. On local water contamination, she supports connecting affected households to public water and criticizes delays in the Navy’s Calverton cleanup. She also emphasizes farmland preservation and property-tax relief for qualifying homes held in trust for people with disabilities.
Kimberly Wilder
Line: Voter Options.
Wilder, a Riverhead activist and former Green Party candidate, describes herself as a progressive independent. Her campaign emphasizes broader ballot choices, grassroots input, government accountability and privacy protections for consumer, voter and children’s data.
She supports state-level single-payer universal health care and sustainable and renewable energy, opposes new nuclear power plants and calls for abolishing ICE. Abolishing a federal agency is beyond the Assembly’s direct authority; her statement signals her immigration stance rather than an action a state legislator could take alone.
Suffolk County comptroller
Vote for one. The comptroller is the county’s chief fiscal officer, overseeing audits, accounting, payroll, cash management and other financial functions. This is an open-seat race: incumbent John Kennedy is term-limited.
Term: Four years. Salary: $229,779 authorized maximum.
Jon Estreich
Line: Democratic.
Estreich is a Dix Hills attorney, former Suffolk prosecutor and former investigative attorney in the MTA inspector general’s office. He also serves in the Army Reserve. He emphasizes independent scrutiny of procurement, contracts and county spending, arguing that a comptroller from a different party than the county administration would strengthen oversight. His experience, he says, equips him to investigate complicated transactions and suspected waste or wrongdoing.
Dan Losquadro
Ballot name: Daniel P Losquadro. Lines: Republican and Conservative.
Losquadro is Brookhaven’s highway superintendent and previously served in the Suffolk Legislature and State Assembly. He cites management of a large department, budgeting and financial forecasting as qualifications. His priorities include audits, technology improvements and recovering revenue, including scrutiny of hotel and motel taxes collected from short-term rentals.
Suffolk County clerk
Vote for one. The clerk records and preserves deeds, mortgages and other public documents, maintains court records and provides public access to records. The office affects home purchases, property research, business filings and litigation.
Term: Four years. Salary: $229,779 authorized maximum.
Vincent Puleo
Ballot name: Vincent A Puleo. Lines: Republican and Conservative. Incumbent and the only candidate whose name is printed for this office.
Puleo was elected county clerk in 2022 after serving as Smithtown town clerk. He emphasizes customer service and modernization. In an October interview, he described new software intended to speed processing of land and court records and said technology would improve service without eliminating staff positions.
Abigail Field
Write-in candidate. No printed party line. Field is a registered Democrat.
Field, a Cutchogue attorney, has worked on real estate, litigation and election-law research. She proposes faster deed recording, a more usable website and improved transparency and customer service. Because her name is not printed on the ballot, voters who wish to support her must use the write-in option for county clerk and enter her name.
The practical difference in the clerk race is between Puleo’s proposed technology upgrades and Field’s argument that records access and processing need broader improvement. The absence of a second printed name does not mean voters have no alternative.
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