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Democrats react to Equal Rights Amendment passage, Long Island congressional wins

Laura Gillen, Democratic candidate for New York's 4th Congressional District.
Heather Khalifa
/
AP
Laura Gillen, Democratic candidate for New York's 4th Congressional District.

Several hundred people gathered late into the night Tuesday at Democratic headquarters in Nassau County to watch election results. They celebrated the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment and claimed victories in the third and fourth congressional districts.

Constituents, elected officials and campaign staffers and volunteers were glued to big screens on either side of the stage as election results trickled in, occasionally erupting in boos or cheers depending on the wins flashing on the screen.

Shortly before midnight, New York State Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs told the crowd that Tom Suozzi won reelection in the third district, and Laura Gillen had ousted Republican Congressman Anthony D’Esposito in the fourth. However, that race still hasn’t been officially called in her favor.

The news garnered booming chants of “Laura, Laura, Laura.”

“It's time to turn a new page,” Gillen said when she greeted her supporters. “It's time to get Congress back to work again for everyday people. It's time to stop pointing fingers and start getting the work done, reaching across the aisle, and solving the problems we need solved.”

The crowd was a mixed bag of emotions, with feelings ranging from happy optimism to fear.

Democratic volunteer Simone Ealey said she feels emotionally and physically exhausted after months of putting up lawn signs and phone banking. But it was important to her as a mother and grandmother.

“When it comes to women's rights, it's so important,” Ealey said. “The idea that we could lose our freedom is just really scary to me, and so that's why I put in the work.”

When Ealey found out that Proposition One, expanding reproductive freedom and protection against discrimination, had passed, she almost broke into tears while tightly embracing her husband, Alvin. Ealey said it felt like winning the lottery.

Among the elected officials in the crowd was Delia DeRiggi-Whitton, Nassau County Legislature minority leader. She said Proposition One is a safety issue.

“They're [abortions] are going to happen anyway,” DeRiggi-Whitton said. “And rather than having it in a back room alley, I would much rather have it safe so that if, God forbid, a young person needs to get one, at least we know that that person would be safe and taken care of.”

Maya Duclay is a news intern at WSHU for the spring of 2024.