Thursday, October 1, 2026
Josh Lafazan, the youthful, affable Nassau County legislator who represents District 18, announced on Monday that he was entering the race for Congressman Tom Suozzi’s seat in the House of Representatives. Suozzi is running for governor.
Former Bayville village Trustee John Taylor said that Lafazan’s decision to run now is wise, and the opportunity is one he probably can’t pass up. “Josh has got the energy, ambition and drive to do it,” Taylor, a Republican, said. “He’s qualified.”
Lafazan, 27, an independent who caucuses with Democrats in the Legislature, registered with the party on Dec. 3. As a legislator, he explained, he focused on nonpartisan issues, unlike the work he would do in Congress.
“I’ve championed Democratic issues as a legislator, whether supporting the environment or fighting climate change, supporting unions . . . and common-sense gun laws,” he said. “When it comes to my morality and my beliefs, they align with the Democratic Party.”
Lafazan serves on the board of directors of the Long Island Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence with Sea Cliff Village Administrator Bruce Kennedy, who has known him for 10 years. “In my experience with Josh, he deals with issues sensibly, is responsible and rational,” Kennedy said. “He won’t allow a party to dictate his positions. He’s a smart, hard-working guy who always focuses on delivering results for people.”
Now in his third term in the Legislature, which he joined at age 23 — its youngest member ever — Lafazan has passed more bills than any of his colleagues, 14. Calling politics a “noble profession,” he said that a return of civility is desperately needed in Congress. Describing himself as a “unifier,” he said he has the ability to bring Democrats and Republicans together on issues at the federal level as he has done in Nassau County.
As a legislator, Lafazan has focused on building relationships and coalitions. He has met with every mayor, school superintendent and civic association and Chamber of Commerce president in his district, he said, in an effort to understand their needs.
“I will take the same playbook as a member of Congress to make sure I’m delivering for every corner of the district,” he said. “I find the issues that cut across partisan lines, and I am relentless in getting things done.”
To those who say that he is too young to serve in Congress, Lafazan responds that he has heard that before. As a senior at Syosset High School in 2012, when he was 18, he was told he was too young to run for a seat on the Syosset School Board, which he won. He was re-elected in 2015. His youth gave him a different perspective, he said, citing the community outreach program for teenagers that he founded. Safe Ride Syosset provided rides for teens who were too drunk to drive, protecting them as well as their passengers.
When he decided to run for the Legislature at age 23, he was told once again that he was too young. Undaunted, he won by an overwhelming majority, and quickly went to work.
To combat the opioid crisis, he passed Timothy’s Law in 2018, creating a 24-hour hotline staffed by substance abuse counselors, and developed Nassau CARES, a smartphone app that provides a ZIP code searchable treatment database for drug and alcohol abuse resources in the community.
Kennedy said that Lafazan’s age is an asset, because he’s in touch with the mainstream and has not been tainted by government.
The grandson of a Holocaust survivor and a Cuban refugee, Lafazan, who lives in Woodbury, said he understands today’s educational challenges. “I understand the shortcomings today in the education system,” he said, “and where we can go from here to make sure every kid is getting an exceptional education regardless of ZIP code.”
He started his own higher education at Nassau Community College, which helped him realize the role the federal government can play in providing opportunities for students who can’t afford to go to four-year colleges. Community colleges are needed, he said, as centers for people who are out of work or have lost their jobs due to technology.
“Community colleges should be a hub of vocation training for trades,” Lafazan said. “Community colleges are very important to me. I started my story there.”
He went on to study at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, earning a degree in 2016, and followed that with a master’s in education policy and management from Harvard the following year. He is now working on a doctorate in the Chief Learning Officer Program at the University of Pennsylvania, learning, among other things, how to run a large office. His academic background, he said, has prepared him for the challenges he would face as a congressman.
As for what he could contribute on the national stage, he cites his age as well as his experience. “I will be the youngest Democrat in the House, so I can bring a completely unique perspective in terms of representing the largest generation in the country,” he said. “But I’m not just running to be a representative of young people. I am running to represent all people, to fulfill what was lacking on the school board and in the Legislature. I want to be the unifier.”
Melanie D’Arrigo, who lost the Democratic primary to Suozzi in 2020, has also said she will run for his seat.
