Letters

Southampton Town Democratic Chairman Gordon Herr picked the wrong election cycle to sit out. His baffling decision to not run a second Democrat Town Council candidate came amid a blue wave that swept across eastern Long Island, New Jersey and Virginia — a wave that carried all five Democratic Town Trustees candidates in Southampton Town and even ousted experienced and well-liked Trustee President Scott Horowitz.

Town Democrats should have been prepared for a pendulum swing like this, yet they weren’t.

Against that backdrop, Herr’s refusal — which he denies was part of any backroom deal — to field a second Town Council candidate was nothing short of foolish. His blunder was compounded by the fact that Tom Neely, the uninspiring replacement candidate, went on to receive significantly more votes than both Republican incumbents, Rick Martel and Cyndi McNamara.

McNamara barely edged out her running mate by 133 votes. Yet Herr loudly proclaimed that defeating McNamara was the party’s top priority, pouring thousands of dollars into negative ads against her. Ironically, McNamara would have been beaten by just about any Democratic paper candidate with a “D” next to their name. As absurd as it sounds, even John Leonard could have beaten her on Tuesday night.

“Democrats” also declined to run a judge candidate, due to a perceived deal from the prior cycle, when Republicans didn’t challenge Democratic judges. Herr advanced the nomination of the Republican who declined to take a clear position when Bridget Fleming raised questions regarding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Meanwhile, the most comical moment of the night came after Herr forced the nomination of Republican and local Conservative Party head Charlie McArdle for highway superintendent, who then received more votes on the Democratic line (6,377) than any other line (3,923 Republican and 1,146 Conservative) for a total of 11,446 votes — 1,702 more votes than Maria Moore. Proof, if any was needed, that voters were ready to rebuke Trumpism and would have supported anyone under the Democratic banner. Thanks to Herr, many didn’t even realize they were voting for a Conservative when they voted straight-ticket Democrat.

As Democratic New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani said in his victory speech, “Politics is supposed to be something done for you, not to you.” But thanks to Gordon Herr, it was very much done to Southampton Democrats this year.

Carol Scott

Sag Harbor