Check out the website: https://lenspoliticalnotes.com Look at the recent Political Notes and Len’s Letters on the website:
May 23rd Len’s Political Note #729 Laura Gillen New York 04
2026 General Election
Laura Gillen tells a story about her immigrant Italian grandparents looking for work on Long Island. They tried government jobs. Menial work. Cleaning. They were told the jobs were theirs if….. If they registered as Republicans.
The story resonates for her in a few ways. It connects Laura Gillen to Long Islanders of Italian descent. It tells us that she may have been a lawyer, but she knows, from her family, what it means to work with your hands. It reminds us of the hypocrisy of the false Republican claim that Democrats have been intentionally lax in dealing with immigration in order to create more Democratic voters.
Laura Gillen did not start out to become a lawyer. Her parents were prosperous, living in Rockville Center when she was born. She went to the private, all girls Catholic high school – Sacred Heart Academy and, from there, to Georgetown. She majored in political science and government, but before she actually tried politics and government, she tried Broadway. She also went to school for that – the Stella Adler Studio, but she was not a success as an actress.
Instead, Laura Gillen went to work for the Greater Talent Network. Mostly, she placed speakers, but had some theater-related work. With theater connections, she found jobs for herself working in university theater art departments and created breaks for herself. She worked on set design for the Royal Tenenbaums on Broadway and for the television mini series Angels in America. These opportunities were not enough. She took a break from Broadway.
Laura Gillen went to sea. She worked for DiveinDeep, an organization that took people on transformational journeys. On Koh Samui, Thailand’s second largest island, she worked as a divemaster, taking people on scuba excursions.
Laura Gillen went on her own spiritual journey – to Kolkata. In India, she volunteered for the Missions of Charity and worked in Mother Theresa’s home for the dying. After that, spiritually transformed or not, she came home and went to law school.
Laura Gillen spent five years in a Manhattan based firm working on securities litigation, defamation, employment law, intellectual property and more including some pro bono work on domestic violence. She moved to a Long Island based firm with a similarly broad portfolio. Gradually, she moved toward work as an arbitrator and a mediator. And she became involved in local politics.
Local politics in the town of Hempstead, Long Island is like politics in a big City. The town’s total population in the 2020 census was just under 800,000. If Hempstead were a city with a mayor, it would have been the 18thlargest city in the United States – slightly smaller than San Francisco and Indianapolis; slightly larger than Seattle and Denver. But Hempstead is not a city. It does not have a mayor, it has a supervisor.
Never having recovered from its turn of the 20th century roots when employees had to register as Republicans, Laura Gillen was the first and, so far, only Democrat to be elected supervisor. With the town council overwhelmingly Republican, her term was something of a struggle. Her greatest successes were in areas that did not require town council approval. She proposed a five year capital plan and fulfilled it, in part, by relying on grants. She had a playground built, restored the town’s water testing laboratory, and expanded the town’s shellfish hatchery. She awarded a long-neglected contract for overseeing worker’s compensation claims, arranged for the renovation of the Nassau Coliseum, and demonstrated fiscal toughness. She reducing spending by more than enough to avoid what the council had projected to be a $59 million deficit. She even proposed a tax cut. The council was unwilling to accept these defeats and voted to cut more spending and reduce taxes by more than her proposal
She lost the battle, was not reelected and lost her 2022 race for Congress. But she is winning the war, Laura Gillen was elected to Congress in 2024. With other moderate Democrats, she supported requiring the detention of undocumented immigrants charged with serious crimes. She was one of a very few Democrats to vote to censure Congressman Al Green for interrupting Trump’s State of the Union message. And she was one of many suburban New York members of congress who opposed New York City’s plan for congestion pricing.
She is clear about her top issues as a Member of Congress. She would reduce taxes for her constituents, defend reproductive freedom, strengthen prek-16 schooling, and reform the immigration system by maintaining a tough border policy while also creating a pathway for citizenship for immigrants who are law abiding and have been here for a period of time.
We have no idea who her Republican opponent will be. She has a primary opponent who raised no money in the first quarter of the 2026 two-year cycle. Laura Gillen raised nearly $600,000 in that same quarter, spent a little, and started the next quarter with $475,000. Her 2.3%, 8,603 2024 victory was fueled by a $7 million to $5 million fund raising margin and a $15 million to $8.5 million margin by outside spenders.
Join in the 2026 campaign. Ensure that Laura Gillen has a sufficient margin to discourage any serious Republican candidate. You can be a help.
Other Congressional candidates with narrow wins reported on so far:
California 13 Former Assemblyman Adam Gray flipped this seat with a 187 vote win. DONATE. His likely Republican opponent is Javier Lopez, mayor of the small city of Ceres. So far, Adam Gray has raised $400,000 and Lopez has not yet announced. See Len’s Political Note #716
California 45 Attorney Derek Tran flipped this seat with a 653 vote win. We do not yet know who his Republican opponent will be, though some are urging Michelle Steel to run to get her seat back. She closed the first quarter with nearly a million dollars on hand, double what Derek Tran had. DONATE to Derek Tran. See Len’s Political Note #717
Maine 02 Incumbent Jared Golden retained his seat with a 2,706 win. Former Governor Paul LePage, a kind of pre-Trump Trump-like figure has announced his candidacy. LePage does not have first quarter fund raising to report while Jared Golden reported about $450,000 available on March 31. DONATE. Jared Golden is facing a man with a following, especially in this Congressional district which Trump carried and earned an electoral college vote. See Len’s Political Note #719
Ohio 09 Incumbent Marcy Kaptur retained her seat with a 2,832 vote win. We do not yet know who her Republican opponent will be, though some think her 2024 opponent Derek Merrin will run again. Marcy Kaptur raised a modest $250,000+ in the first quarter, but had $600,000 available on March 31 to begin the campaign. DONATE to Marcy Kaptur. See Len’s Political Note #718
Texas 34 Incumbent Vicente Gonzalez retained his seat with a 5,237 win. We do not yet know who his Republican opponent will be. Vicente Gonzalez is getting himself ready. He has more than $500,000 cash available. Help him stay ahead. DONATE. See Len’s Political Note #720
North Carolina 01 Incumbent Don Davis retained his seat with a 6,307 win. We do not yet know who his Republican opponent will be though multi-millionaire Sandy Roberson is a possibility. Don Davis had a little more than $500,000 available on March 31. DONATE. See Len’s Political Note #721
California 27. Space travel advocate and corporate and governmental leader George Whitesides flipped a Republican seat with a margin of 7,990 votes. We do not yet know who his opponent will be and early money could discourage strong opponents. He is a formidable fundraiser himself and entered the second quarter of fund raising for 2026 with approximately $850,000. Join up. DONATE. Help increase his resources. See Len’s Political Note #726
New York 19 Josh Riley, an attorney on behalf of Democratic causes, returned home to run for Congress. He lost by 4,495 votes in 2022, but flipped the seat by 8,357 votes in 2024. We do not know who his opponent will be. Josh Riley raised $750,000 in the first quarter of the campaign and, on March 31, began the campaign with nearly $700,000. He needs more. In order to win in 2024, he outspent the incumbent $9.5 million to $5.5 million. Outside spending was more even — $16 million on behalf of Josh Riley, $15 million on behalf of his opponent. DONATE to Josh Riley. See Len’s Political Note #727
Ohio 13 Emilia Sykes represents Akron as her mother and father did in the state legislature for more than 40 years. She has, as her opponent, former State Senator Kevin Coughlin, who she defeated by 8,542 votes in 2024. She raised less than $300,000 in the first quarter of this year, the amount she had on hand on March 31. That is more than her prospective opponent who had less than $50,000 on March 31. That disproportion resembles the 2024 race where Emilia Sykes raised $5 million to Kevin Coughlin’s $1.5 million. Outside spending also favored Emilia Sykes — $9 million to $7.5 million in round numbers. DONATE. Keep her lead. Help her win.
GIVE OF YOURSELF AS WELL.
Join peaceful demonstrations. I hope you found a place to march on May 1. Be prepared to march on June 14. I do not suggest you stand in front of a tank, Tiananmen Square-like. Look around. Many communities have weekly demonstrations against Trump. Find one and join. Call your Senators and Congress Members. Remind them that Trump should not be kowtowing to Qatar for a gift airplane or that Trump should not be attempting to close down PBS or that Trump should not be supporting huge tax cuts for the wealthy or sharp reductions in Medicaid. Or any other of Trump’s depredations such as arresting Members of Congress doing their job of Congressional oversight.
