A Statement from the Port Washington Democratic Club on the 2024 Election.

As we begin to recover from our shock and disbelief, we want to say a few words about our 2024 candidates and our path forward in 2025.

First, we want to congratulate our Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, and our Congressman, Tom Suozzi for their victories. Considering the challenging political environment we face on Long Island, we take special solace in Congressman Suozzi’s win, his commitment to our Democratic team, and his tenacity in pursuing bipartisan solutions to our most intractable problems. More than anyone else, we are relying on him to speak for our values in Washington, D.C., and we will ensure that he is a frequent visitor to our club.

Second, we want to express our profound relief that New Yorkers passed Prop 1 with a comfortable margin. This greatly enhances our capacity to resist the attacks on equality, freedom, and human dignity that we know are coming.

Third, we want to express our tremendous pride in our candidates who fought hard but didn’t prevail this time, from Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket to Kim Keiserman and Gina Sillitti at the bottom of the ticket. We are immensely grateful to Gina Sillitti for her conscientious and responsive representation of our community during her two terms in the Assembly, and we were looking forward to sending Kim Keiserman to Albany to partner with her in fighting for our needs and interests.

Finally, we want to thank all the club members who knocked doors, made calls, and showed up for these candidates and Prop 1. As always, our club members gave it their all.

This club came together eight years ago in the wake of Trump’s first election. In our sadness and anger, we found each other and began the work of organizing to support Democratic candidates and policies at the local level. We played a leading role in electing Laura Curran, Tom Suozzi, Anna Kaplan, Tony D’Urso, Gina Sillitti, Delia DeRiggi-Whitton, and Mariann Dalimonte. We produced new candidates and weathered the divisions created by contested primaries. We supported neighboring communities in building new Democratic Clubs and led the clubs in sharing resources and working together. We have had many successes and helped build a strong community of active, engaged Democrats on the North Shore of Long Island.

There is no denying that we have experienced a major setback, and it would be easy to give into despondency at this moment. But now is not the time for hopelessness; it is the time to regroup and redouble our efforts. We cannot give up now if we hope to live in a more free, more perfect union.

The members of this club and our neighboring clubs have always been bound together by a shared commitment to Democratic values and propelled by a shared belief in the power of democratic activism, rooted in hope for a more just and democratic future. It is this sense of hope that we must nurture and renew now as we come together and prepare for the challenges ahead—standing up to the politics of fear-mongering and division, protecting our rights, and electing a Democratic Town Supervisor and County Executive.

Now more than ever, we invite every Democrat in Port Washington to join our club and get involved in our work. We need you all.