Andrew Garbarino for New York's 2nd Congressional District

There are constituents in Andrew Garbarino’s district who clearly find the Republican House incumbent not sufficiently conservative, a sentiment that manifests itself during campaign seasons when his lawn signs are purloined so the last four letters of his name can be highlighted. The new colored RINO signs are then returned to the spots where they were taken.

Garbarino, who is running for his fourth term, is bemused by the “Republican In Name Only” label, saying he gets equal pushback for being too conservative. “If MAGA gets mad at me, it gets mad; if DSA gets mad at me, it gets mad,” he told the editorial board. “That’s how I do things.”

And doing things that way is what makes Garbarino, 42, of Bayport, a valuable player in Congress for his district and for Long Island.

Garbarino is close to Speaker Mike Johnson — one reason for his remarkable rise in House GOP leadership, ascending in July 2025 to chair of the Homeland Security Committee. The other reason is his willingness to stay out of the spotlight, instead building relationships with colleagues of many political persuasions, especially Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat.

That’s why Garbarino, along with Gillibrand, was able to finally close a hard-fought deal to fund the World Trade Center Health Program through 2040. And the pair seem poised for another win later this year: almost $6 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reimburse the state and city’s 9/11-related pension costs for the untimely deaths and disability retirements of public workers who aided in the rescue and recovery after the attacks.

His powerful perch and network was a benefit in December when the former Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem, decided to sabotage counterterrorism funding for New York as she slashed the approved $187 million by 80%. Garbarino is credited with going directly to the White House to get the funding restored, including that designated for the FDNY and Nassau and Suffolk law enforcement.

But there was a moment to step out of his nonconfrontational style and demand accountability that Garbarino disappointingly did not meet. He should have been more aggressive in the committee’s oversight of the fatal shootings by federal agents of two protesters in Minnesota, by subpoenaing officials to testify and issuing an independent report on what happened.

In the high-stakes battle to fully restore the federal deduction for state and local taxes that President Donald Trump took away in his first term, Garbarino was a key blue-state negotiator in getting the White House to agree to a $40,000 deduction with an income tax cap of $500,000, although he missed a key floor vote approving the 2025 Tax Act.

Seeking to unseat Garbarino is one of the more familiar names in Long Island politics. Democrat Patrick Halpin, 73, of Oak Beach, was the youngest person elected Suffolk County executive and would be the oldest person from Long Island ever elected to Congress.

One of Halpin’s accomplishments in his one term as county executive, from 1988 to 1991, was creating the Long Island Housing Partnership, a nonprofit that builds affordable housing and partners with local governments to give grants to first-time homebuyers. Currently chair of the Babylon Town Planning Board, Halpin cares passionately about developing more housing, saying that as a member of Congress he would seek federal tax incentives for developers to turn aging malls into residences. Halpin says an Amazon warehouse at the former Sunrise Mall in Massapequa is a missed opportunity.

Halpin said he would make all salaried income subject to Social Security taxes to stabilize the program’s trust fund but he made quite clear that his reason for running is the “madman in the White House.” After spending 17 years on the board of the Suffolk County Water Authority, Halpin said he would work to “reverse the damage” the Trump administration has done to “green infrastructure” including renewing efforts to build wind energy off Long Island.

For district residents whose vote primarily is to give Democrats the House majority in an effort to limit Trump’s reach in the last two years of his term, Halpin is a solid choice.

The winning choice for Long Island, regardless of who controls the gavel, is Garbarino. He will remain an effective player for team New York.

Newsday Opinion endorses Garbarino.