In Special Election, Julie Lofstad Wins Open Seat On Southampton Town Board

Democrat Julie Lofstad will replace former Councilman Brad Bender on the Southampton Town Board after winning more than 60 percent of the votes in a special election on Tuesday.

According to unofficial results on the Suffolk County Board of Elections website, Ms. Lofstad handily defeated Republican opponent Richard Yastrzemski, 2,771-1,721.

When the results were announced on Tuesday night, Ms. Lofstad said she was thrilled to be joining the board.

“I feel unbelievable,” she said while at Buckley’s Inn Between in Hampton Bays, where members of the town’s Democratic Committee waited for election results. “You don’t get many second chances in life. I feel great and I’m looking forward to working hard on behalf of the people of Southampton Town.”

Tuesday’s special election had been set in December roughly one week after Mr. Bender was forced to resign after pleading guilty to charges of distributing oxycodone. Ms. Lofstad will finish out the remaining two years of Mr. Bender’s four-year term.

Both Ms. Lofstad and Mr. Yastrzemski ran for Town Board seats in the November general election. Ms. Lofstad narrowly missed winning one of two contested board seats to her running mate John Bouvier and Councilwoman Christine Scalera, while Mr. Yastrzemski, currently the deputy mayor of Southampton Village, lost his bid for the supervisor’s board seat to Jay Schneiderman.

Mr. Yastrzemski conceded the Town Board race at the Westhampton Beach VFW Post on Tuesday night, saying he did everything he could during the election, but that Suffolk County politics impacted the race when the Conservative Party chose not to support his campaign for a second time, instead throwing its weight behind Ms. Lofstad.

Shortly after the Conservatives’ endorsement of Ms. Lofstad was announced, Mr. Yastrzemski said, county Republican officials filed a petition protesting the endorsement—but the petition was dismissed because it was not filed within 10 days as required.

In total, Ms. Lofstad was endorsed by the Democratic, Independence and Conservative lines.

“We gave it another good shot,” Mr. Yastrzemski said. “The numbers speak for themselves. We were up against a behemoth of an opponent, that opponent being the Democratic Party.”

According to Bill Wright, chairman of the town’s Republican Party, the election was influenced by a feud between Suffolk County Republican Party Chairman John J. LaValle and County Conservative Chairman Edward Walsh. The feud has been going on for months, with news outlets reporting that the Conservative Party chose to cross-endorse two Democrats for the State Supreme Court in exchange for support for one of its candidates. In response, Mr. LaValle fired a party secretary and friend of Mr. Walsh. The two have been feuding over endorsements ever since.

“The bottom line is that Rich is one hell of a candidate,” Mr. Wright sad. “He took a stand on issues. The Conservative Party of the Town of Southampton backed a liberal Democrat because of county politics, and you see what happens.

“He knew that going in, but he took a stand and said he would not stand for that,” Mr. Wright continued. “This man stands on his morals and principles, and that deserves a round of applause.”

On Wednesday morning, Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said he is very happy Ms. Lofstad took the final seat on the board, adding that he she will make a positive addition. According to Mr. Schneiderman, Ms. Lofstad will have to wait to be sworn in until the county can finalize the election results, which typically takes at least 10 days.

The supervisor added that there are approximately 600 absentee ballots that must be taken into account, although, with a 1,050-vote difference between the two candidates, the absentee ballots will not overturn Tuesday’s results. There were also two write-in candidates in the election; the names were unavailable Wednesday morning.

On Tuesday night, the chairman of the Southampton Town Democratic Party, Gordon Herr, said the Town Board is poised to make serious changes. Mr. Herr said the team of Ms. Lofstad, Mr. Bouvier and Mr. Schneiderman will work together to make positive strides, particularly in terms of water quality.

“I feel the voters realized that Julie was by far the best candidate for the job,” he said. “She’s somebody who obviously works across party lines, and somebody who is going to do a fantastic job for this town. I’m very excited about it. I think she’s a star—an absolute star—and she’s going to go far.”