Over a month since Republican Huntington Town Supervisor Ed Smyth was reelected in a close and controversial race, left-leaning residents have turned Facebook conversations into action, hoping to prevent what they say was a hijacking of a third-party line from happening again.
The controversy centers on the Working Families Party line, with its candidate, Maria Delgado, receiving 1,195 votes, according to unofficial results.
The issue? Delgado, 83, wasn’t endorsed by the Working Families Party and told Newsday she had no idea she was on the ballot, despite voting in both the primary and general elections. Had Democratic candidate Cooper Macco — who was backed by the Working Families Party — received all of Delgado’s votes, he would have won the election.
Some Working Families Party officials have accused community members unaffiliated with the party of using the line to help Republicans win.
“Because of Donald Trump’s disastrous policies that are leaving millions of people without healthcare and causing food and housing prices to skyrocket, the Republican Party knew they could not win this election without dirty political tricks,” wrote Sydney Watnick, a spokesperson for the Working Families Party, in a statement.
The alleged “hijacking” — or party raiding — involves people registering for a party they are not politically aligned with and running a candidate in a primary election who defeats the party’s preferred nominee.
Local Republican leadership denies these claims.
“What we are seeing now is post-election spin and sour grapes,” Huntington Republican Committee Chair Tom McNally wrote in a statement.
Christine Geed, a spokesperson for the town of Huntington, wrote in a statement, “The election is over and certified. The Town of Huntington is going to move forward and continue to govern.”
Representatives from the Huntington Working Families Party, Huntington Republican Committee and Suffolk County Republicans Club did not respond to requests for comment.
While the Working Families Party is looking to Albany to “fix the rules that allow bad-faith actors to raid third parties,” Huntington residents are pushing for more local action.
“They have people down here who are willing to fight for this party and this line, and we need help,” said Jenn Gidman, a registered Working Families Party member, who voted for Macco in the election after hearing about the alleged hijacking. “We’re just a ragtag group, trying to salvage the line, and we feel like we’ve kind of been left in the wind.”
Phil Dalton, a longtime Democrat and professor of writing and rhetoric at Hofstra University, became a dues-paying Working Families Party member in October.
“I either become the solution or join the chorus of complainers,” he said. “I am not wired to just complain.”
Ahead of this year’s election, he launched a Huntington Working Families Party website to help organize the party and spread awareness about the alleged hijacking.
While Dalton’s efforts did not prevent Delgado from receiving votes, he said he remains committed to supporting the party. His plans include identifying which of the more than 600 registered Working Families Party voters in Huntington align with the party’s values and hosting events.
“I want to get at least 200 people on the Working Families Party registered to make sure that those candidates that are actually vetted and endorsed by the party can withstand any primary that they face,” Dalton said.
He’s already helped organize a Zoom event with the state’s Working Families Party that drew more than 100 participants. Dalton said that about 20 people have expressed interest in recruiting for the party.
Huntington residents Quinn Dell, a Democrat, and Denise Curci Schwartz, a moderate who tends to lean right, organized a rally ahead of a post-election town board meeting attended by around 80 residents.
“We’re showing the powers that be that we’re questioning things big time,” Curci Schwartz said.
The women, who didn’t know each other before this controversy, connected online, where they both continue to voice their concerns. Curci Schwartz said social media has been a useful tool for disseminating information.
“We’re definitely successful in opening people’s eyes, mine included,” Curci Schwartz said.
She hopes Facebook groups will help identify people with more direct knowledge of what occurred to bring to the state attorney general’s office, which is reviewing complaints related to the election.
The attorney general’s office declined to comment.
Marie Neilon, a member of the Huntington Democratic Committee, is also looking ahead, working within her personal network to encourage voters who don’t typically participate in Democratic primaries to change their registration and vote in the Working Families Party primary.
“The answer to me is fight fire with fire,” she said. “This is a recruiting problem that needs some dedicated organizers.”
For Dell, grassroots efforts have shown that it’s possible to move the needle in local politics.
“It’s just amazing what a few people on a mission can do when the whole community comes together,” she said.
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