U.S. Representative-Elect Nick LaLota Prepares To Take Office

U.S. Representative-elect Nick LaLota, who was in Washington, D.C., last week for an initial round of orientation sessions for new members that focused mostly on the logistics of doing their jobs, said there was a moment when his election hit home.

“It became real when I stepped on the House floor for the first time,” he said. “It was quite an honor to be able to do that.”

LaLota cruised to an easy victory in the November 8 election over Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming, winning nearly 56 percent of the vote to Fleming’s 44 percent, to assume the 1st Congressional District seat being vacated by Republican Lee Zeldin, who unsuccessfully ran for governor.

Though expectations of a nationwide “red wave” did not bear out, Republicans did well on Long Island, winning all four congressional races. The GOP also took control of the House, although Democrats retain a razor-sharp edge in the Senate.

“Republicans won a lot of tough races because we campaigned on the issues that mattered most,” LaLota said. “Voters wanted to talk about economic solutions and public safety solutions, and Republicans made their case and based their campaigns around those issues. That’s the primary reason we won, and we won in some districts with more Democrats than Republicans.”

LaLota, who most recently served as the chief of staff for the Suffolk County Legislature and before that as the Republican commissioner for the Suffolk County Board of Elections, said once in office, he plans on “delivering on promises” he made during the campaign.

“What I heard from voters when I campaigned for this office for more than eight months is they want their politicians to work across the aisle to find solutions,” he said.

While he acknowledged that he was disappointed Republicans did not win a larger majority in the House, LaLota said that might have a silver lining for the American people by fostering bipartisan cooperation.

“It’s going to be done this session out of necessity,” he said. “With a Republican House and a [Democratic] Senate, the two parties are going to have find ways to work together.”

LaLota said he had already met with members of New York’s Democratic delegation to seek ways the two sides could work together to restore the full State and Local Tax Deduction, known as SALT, which was capped at $10,000 when the Republican-dominated Congress passed tax cuts in 2017.

LaLota also promised to throw his support behind efforts to reduce spending and begin paying down the $31 trillion national debt “because if we don’t, we are going to deny future generations of Americans the great opportunities we have had.” He said that neither party had delivered a balanced budget when they were in control of Congress over the past two decades and called deficit spending “a bipartisan problem.”

One way to reduce inflation is to bring down energy prices, and LaLota repeated his promise to encourage additional exploration to tap American oil reserves.

He also said reducing crime would be another priority and said as a congressman, his attention would be on making the southern border more secure “so we can stop the inflow of drugs and weapons and illegal folks.”

Although the issue has divided the parties, LaLota said he saw another opportunity for compromise. “I’m the new guy, so I’m slightly hopeful,” he said. “We live in a moment in time where the Republicans can get better border security and the Democrats can get a better compromise on citizenship issues. If the two parties work together, we can find a compromise that will make the immigration process more streamlined, but we can also finally secure the border.”

LaLota, who is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and served in the Navy for more than a decade, said he has asked to be named to the House Armed Forces Committee.

“I want to give back to our military better policies and better budgets so our next generation of American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines have the right tools and the right policies in place so they can win the next conflict they are deployed to and come home safely.”