By:Jeff Lipton
Leg. Toback, Zapson win re-election; Santino beats Lamonica in town race
Led by the spirited victory of Tom Suozzi over Republican Bruce Bent for county executive on Tuesday, Democrats scored a resounding victory in the Five Towns as Jeff Toback and Michael Zapson held onto their county legislative seats.
Riding his energetic campaign all the way to the top county post, Suozzi defeated Bent by a large margin. Final tallies were not available at presstime.
Today, thousands of Republicans, maybe for the first time in their lives, pulled a lever for a Democrat. We won't let you down,Suozzi said.
Bent said he spent all the money he promised, $1 million, and blamed the World Trade Center attacks for slowing down his campaign.
Toback won re-election to a second term in the Seventh Legislative District, which encompasses the Five Towns, with a victory over Republican challenger Merik Aaron. In unofficial results Toback received 9,505 votes to Aaron's 5,560.
In the Fourth Legislative District, which takes in Atlantic Beach, Zapson beat his Republican challenger Michael Mulhall, 10,301 to 5,662.
In the Fourth Councilmatic District, which includes Hewlett, Republican incumbent Anthony Santino defeated his Democratic challenger Jerry Lamonica by a vote of 16,711 to 13,483.
In the race for Town of Hempstead supervisor, voters returned Richard Guardino, the Republican incumbent, to a third two-year term, with a victory over Democratic challenger Kevin Gorman.
Toback said he believes his message got out to voters. I was confident,Toback said. We worked hard and people seemed to understand our message.
Under Suozzi's leadership we will get the county's finances in order...The best times are yet to come.
