Former Olympic skater Sarah Hughes drops out of Congressional Race

                                                                               

The Democratic primary for Nassau's South Shore 4th Congressional District just got a little less crowded.

Former Olympic skating champion Sarah Hughes has tweeted that she will not run for the Congressional seat after all, which brightens the chances of everyone else in the race.

Not only does Hughes decision leave more breathing room for the most active Democratic 4th District candidates: State Sen. Kevin Thomas of Levittown  and former Hempstead Town Supervisor Laura Gillen of Rockville Centre,but it also eases the pressure on incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Anthony D'Esposito, of Island Park. 

Many pundits thought Hughes would be a popular candidate among all voters regardless of party even though she doesn't live in the district. She lives in Manhattan now after growing up in Great Neck. She filed to run for the 4th District seat in May.

Hughes had great charisma when she was representing the USA at the 2002 Olympics, garnering so much positive press on Long Island that some cynics referred to Newsday as "Hughesday" back then.

Now the pundits believe that the party will back Thomas, apparently a favorite of Washington DC Democrats.

Here for example is Thomas' most recent tweet, including a photo with California Democratic Congressmen Ted Lieu and RoKhanna:

But Thomas may be too liberal for the 4th District. He is a big backer of bail reform in the State Senate, but anger over bail reform is cited as a main reasons for the red wave that engulfed Long Island in the last two years, defeating many Democratic incumbents including County Executive Laura Curran.

Thomas survived that wave. He did not survive last year's state redistricting. He was drawn out of his senate seat.

Gillen, in comparison, says she opposed the original cashless bail reform laws adopted by the state legislature in 2019 that put suspects back on the street within hours of arrest with only the promise that they would return to court for prosecution. The laws have since been tightened a bit to allow judges a little more discretion in whether to set violent suspects free or not.

Gillen's latest fundraising email concentrated on pocketbook issues as she promised to bring affordability back to Long Island:

She wrote: 

"Hard-working families are struggling to afford their most basic needs due to the skyrocketing cost of housing, transportation, child care, and utilities.

Here are the most urgent affordability issues facing Long Islanders:

 The median house price on Long Island increased by 66%, and in Nassau, median monthly rents increased from $1,407 to $1,940.

 The cost of child care is at an all-time high on average, costing $15,000 per year for infants and $13,000 per year for toddlers in Nassau.

 The costs for utilities hit a record high, with working families struggling to keep up with the increasing costs of water, gas, and electricity bills."