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Kaminsky wins State Assembly race

Defeats Republican Avi Fertig by wide margin in 20th A.D.

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Long Beach resident Todd Kaminsky won the majority of votes in his State Assembly bid on Tuesday, and was called the new “shining star” of Albany by Nassau County Democratic Committee Chairman Jay Jacobs.

Kaminsky, 36, defeated Republican opponent Avi Fertig, 41, of Woodmere, with 16,411 votes to Fertig’s 13,810, or 54 percent to 46 percent. He crushed Fertig in Long Beach’s 24 voting districts, 5,911 to 1,653, according to the Nassau County Board of Elections.

“I have a very small announcement — we won!” Kaminsky told the crowd at Billy’s Beach Café, where hundreds of family members, friends and supporters cheered on the new representative of the 20th Assembly District, which encompasses the barrier island, Island Park, Oceanside, the Five Towns and parts of East Rockaway and Valley Stream.

“From watching the television screen, you’ll see that across the country, this has not been the best night for the Democratic Party …,” Jacobs said. “But I will tell you, it has been an outstanding night for the Democratic Party here in Nassau County, and now in Long Beach, because we have a new shining star … an independent Democrat, a reform Democrat, and that’s the kind of Democrat we need and he’s going to be a great, great leader here.”

Kaminsky, who grew up in Long Beach, announced his campaign in April, a day after Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg, 80 — who endorsed Kaminsky — said he would not seek re-election. Kaminsky resigned from his job as an assistant U.S. attorney to run for Weisenberg’s seat.

“The first person that must be thanked here … and there is no way I’m standing here … without his help, his brilliant guidance and leadership,” Kaminsky said, “is Harvey Weisenberg.”

Weisenberg said that Kaminsky’s win signaled a “new renaissance, and a new generation of support as an independent Democrat.”

“Todd gave me his commitment that people are more important than dollars and that he’s going to do everything he can to protect and make a quality of life that you’re entitled to,” Weisenberg added, “and I tell you, he’s going to be a strong … leader who is going to be able to get the resources that meet the needs of all of our people.”

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