Sag Harbor Voters Back Incumbents

Sag Harbor voters reelected two incumbent members of the Village Board in voting on Tuesday.

Jeanne Kane, who was running in her first election after being appointed in 2023 by Mayor Tom Gardella to complete the last of year of his term, led all voters with 239 votes. Trustee Ed Haye, who ran as a team with Kane with Gardella’s endorsement, came in second with 237 votes.

They turned away challengers Mary Ann Eddy, a longtime member of the Harbor Committee, who received 204 votes, and Ron Reed, a member of the Planning Board, who received 108 votes.

“I want to thank The Express for their endorsement, as I know their opinion is well-respected,” said Kane. “I also want to thank all the support we received from the constituents. We are thrilled to hear the village wants to continue to see the current team work together to find solutions for current issues and develop plans for the future.”

Reached Wednesday morning, Haye offered a similar response. “I want to thank the residents of Sag Harbor for giving Jeanne and me another two years to continue what we’ve begun,” he said. “It’s gratifying.”

A small group gathered in the Sag Harbor Firehouse to watch the returns, which were cast on paper ballots because the Suffolk County Board of Elections had committed voting machines to the upcoming Democratic congressional primary. It took the four election inspectors nearly two hours to count and confirm the results.

Kane, Eddy and Reed were present to watch the returns. Haye, who had another commitment, was absent.

There was a muted response when the results were posted on a whiteboard. After seeing that they had come up short, Eddy and Reed congratulated Kane and left. Kane did not linger, either, leaving minutes after the results were posted with her husband, Paul Zaykowski.

“I’m proud of my effort and proud of my supporters,” said Eddy on Wednesday morning. “More importantly, I really had fun campaigning. And I’m not embarrassed about getting more than 200 votes.”

She said the need for an environmental voice on the board remained strong and that she would continue to work to see that voice is heard.

Eddy lamented that during door-to-door campaigning, she learned that many voters did not realize there was going to be an election, and she urged the village to do more to promote future elections.

And she added that she was disheartened to learn that a number of inaccurate social media posts had been made about her campaign. “It’s dismaying because we see so much of that in national politics,” she said. “I didn’t know we had it at home.”

In a Facebook post, Reed wrote: “While the election results didn’t go as we had hoped, I remain committed to our shared vision for Sag Harbor’s future. Together, we can continue to work toward a stronger, more inclusive community.”

Via text message, he said Wednesday morning he would consider running again in next year’s election.

Haye and Kane ran a low-key campaign, touting the work they had begun for the village on affordable housing, the sewer system expansion, water quality, parking, and maintaining fiscal responsibility.

Voting was about half as heavy as it was in 2021, the last time there was a contested election for Village Board. Village Clerk Kate Locascio said a total of 368 votes were cast on Tuesday and that there was the potential for another 58 absentee ballots to be cast.

By contrast, in 2021, when Jim Larocca edged out Kathleen Mulcahy in the mayoral race, more than 700 votes were cast.