Ed Smyth reelected Huntington Town Supervisor, town GOP leader says

Huntington Town Supervisor Ed Smyth, a Republican, was reelected to a second term while Democrat Jennifer Hebert won a seat on the all-GOP board, party officials said.

Hebert was elected to the town council alongside Republican incumbent Dave Bennardo. Hebert will succeed Sal Ferro, a Republican who declined to run for reelection.

Hebert said Wednesday she planned to advocate for constituents and work collaboratively with the board's Republicans. 

“I think it’s really important that we work as a team,” she said in an interview. She noted that she was a Huntington school board trustee for 9 years.

Smyth was leading Democrat Cooper Macco by 602 votes as of Wednesday afternoon, according to unofficial returns from the Suffolk County Board of Elections. Thomas McNally, chair of the Huntington Republican Committee, told Newsday he had declared victory on Smyth's behalf.

There are 175 ballots the board of elections has received that need to be counted. The tally includes 83 from Democrats, 40 from Republicans and 41 from voters unaffiliated with a party.

Also, the board has distributed but not received back from voters a total of 1,487 ballots. That tally includes 682 mail-ins to Democrats, 374 to Republicans and 357 to independents.

Smyth said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the final outcome and attributed his support to wide appeal.

“In Huntington, voters are sophisticated, they pay attention and there’s no way I would be in the position I am today without receiving a significant portion of Democratic votes, along with conservatives and obviously Republicans," he said. "A broad spectrum of voters in Huntington voted for me.”

Macco, making his first run for a townwide position, said his close race sends a message.

“It was a great experience and regardless of what ultimately happens here, I think we made phenomenal progress and certainly sent a message that the way the town was going can’t continue," he said. "I hope that resonates for the next few years."

Bennardo and Theresa Mari, who was elected in 2023, round out the town board. Andre Sorrentino Jr., a Republican, was reelected highway superintendent.

McNally cited high turnout among Democratic voters for the close races, saying they "really came out and showed up at the polls yesterday." He said his team worked "very hard all day long to get our Republican voters out."

Suffolk Democratic Chairman Rich Schaffer said he doesn't expect Macco to make up the difference once the absentees are counted.

But, he said, “I think we surprised the Republicans in that the results were a lot closer than they thought they would be."

Jesse Garcia, chairman of the Suffolk Republican Committee, said there is usually an “enthusiasm gap” that hurts the party that won the majority of national races one year earlier.

To counter that trend, he said his committee boosted its ground game with 1,100 volunteers working across Suffolk on Election Day.

“We maintained our majorities and came out winners," he said. "We fared very well.”