This challenger leads unofficial primary voting for Long Beach City Council

Four candidates are running for Long Beach City Council this time around — challenger James Hodge and incumbents Liz Treston, Tina Posterli and Karen McInnis. Early voting took place for the Democratic primary late last month, and the Nassau County Board of Elections has reported unofficial results of the voting.

The unofficial results, which came in June 27, show that James Hodge leads the four candidates in votes with 816. Treston was close behind with 807 and Posterli was reported with 749. McInnis totaled the least votes with 732.

McInnis and Treston were elected to four-year terms in 2019, and Posterli, council President John Bendo and Roy Lester were elected in 2021.

In an email back in February, incumbents Karen McInnis, Tina Posterli and Liz Treston told the Herald they would run as a team. Referring to themselves in the third person, they wrote that in the few years they have been on the council, “they have helped get the city out of the most fiscally stressed municipality in the state by the NYS Comptroller’s office. They advocated and received millions of dollars for needed projects. They want to continue moving Long Beach forward.”

In another email around the same time, McInnis wrote, “I wish James all the best with his candidacy. I can see why he would want to be a part of all the great work that this administration has done … and will continue to do so … I can tell you governing through this period of transformation for me has been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to truly make a lasting, positive impact on the future of the city by the sea for generations to come.”

If elected, Hodge, a former chairman of the MLK Center, would be the first Black member of the council since Anissa Moore was elected in 2015. Moore is now a deputy Nassau County executive.