Gallant wins Democratic primary, will challenge LaLota in NY-01

Unofficial Suffolk County Board of Elections results put Christopher Gallant of Amity Harbor ahead in the June 23 Democratic primary in New York’s 1st Congressional District by 5,002 votes, with 12,132 ballots to Lukas Ventouras’ 7,130. The 62.89 percent to 36.96 percent margin sends Gallant into the November 3 general election against Republican incumbent Nick LaLota.

NY-01 stretches across the East End towns of East Hampton, Riverhead, Shelter Island, Southampton and Southold, along with Huntington, Smithtown and central and northern Brookhaven. It was once a more fluid battleground, but the Cook Political Report now rates the seat solidly Republican, and Donald Trump and LaLota each carried it by 10 points in 2024. Ballotpedia lists a four-candidate general election field that includes LaLota, Gallant, Jordan Maggio and Thomas Sorensen.

Gallant’s biography includes the New York Army National Guard, the Federal Aviation Administration and volunteer firefighting. He joined the Guard at 17, was deployed multiple times to Kuwait, served as an FAA air traffic controller and worked as a union leader before volunteering as a firefighter in his community. After the primary, Gallant wrote on social media, “Tonight, we made history,” and cast the race around cost of living, infrastructure, water protection, storm resilience, veterans and support for small businesses and working families.

LaLota attended the U.S. Naval Academy from 1996 to 2000 and later served as a Surface Warfare Officer, including assignments aboard USS Curts and USS Carl Vinson. He served as Suffolk County Board of Elections commissioner from 2015 to 2021 before becoming chief of staff to the Suffolk County Legislature, where he managed a $3.7 billion budget and worked on environmental and municipal-service issues. The district was represented by Republican Lee Zeldin from 2015 to 2022.