East Meadow incumbents returned to office

East Meadow and Salisbury residents voted to return Nassau County legislative and Town Council incumbents to office last week.

In the county Legislature, Republican Norma Gonsalves, who lives in and has presided over East Meadow in the 13th Legislative District for 15 years, defeated challenger Ed Kraus by more than 4,000 votes

Voters also re-elected Dennis Dunne, a Republican who’s 15th District includes Salisbury. He garnered approximately 66 percent of the vote against Democratic challenger Jonathan Clarke.

And voters who live in the Barnum Woods area of East Meadow — west of Merrick Avenue and east of the Meadowbrook State Parkway — may have been surprised to see a new name on their ballot. Because of recent redistricting, the area was shifted into the 1st District, which has been held by Democrat Kevan Abrahams since 2002. He defeated Republican challenger Laurette Gregory by a wide margin, accumulating 85 percent of the vote.

Gonsalves, who became the Legislature’s presiding officer last year, expressed her gratitude to voters for awarding her another term. “I’m going to continue to serve and do the best I can to meet the needs of my constituents,” Gonsalves said. “And I truly say thank you to them all for maintaining that trust and confidence in me.”

She said that her top priority in office will be working to ensure the county is fiscally healthy and prosperous. “The major thing I want to make sure we continue to work at is the fiscal stability of the county,” Gonsalves said. “We have to continue to find every means to keep taxes stable, to create the jobs and make sure that Nassau County continues to be the best place to work and raise a family. That’s what I want to see.”

Predicting strides in these directions in the coming months, Gonsalves said she is particularly looking forward to the redevelopment of the Nassau Coliseum, and “that materializing into a job creator.”

Abrahams, who lives in Hempstead, is representing portions of East Meadow for the first time. “Our office has always been a revolving door of getting people help,” Abrahams said, “and making sure they understand they can always lean on us, and reach out to us to get the resources they need.”