Meet the candidates for State Assembly District Seven

Two candidates are running for N.Y. State Assembly District Seven, which is open as incumbent Jarett Gandolfo seeks a State Senate seat. Republican and Conservative Party candidate DawnMarie Kuhn is running against Democratic and Working Families candidate Trish Kopp. The seventh state assembly district covers South Shore communities from West Bay Shore through parts of East Patchogue.

DawnMarie Kuhn

DawnMarie Kuhn is a lifelong Bohemia resident who won her first election last fall for the Town of Islip Council’s Second District. But Kuhn’s involvement in local civic and political life extends long before she entered the town council earlier this year.

Starting as a state senate volunteer in high school, Kuhn would later open her right-wing political consulting firm, Right View Strategies LLC, which has worked with political candidates island-wide, including Legis. Anthony Piccirillo, whom she served as chief of staff.

Kuhn has also worked in the Town of Islip’s Sanitation Department and Department of Environmental Control, and also worked as chief of staff for former town councilmember Jim O’Connor, before working for Piccirillo.

Reflecting on her first ten months as a town councilmember, Kuhn said it “has been an honor” to represent a community she knows and loves.

“It has been very fulfilling to help solve constituent cases, whether it be repairing a sidewalk, connecting seniors with services or helping a homeowner navigate the planning department,” Kuhn said. “I am proud to help my community whenever they contact my office.”

Kuhn added that she’s proud of leading the effort to set the town’s Department of Environmental Control “on a new course, because Islip should lead the region in solving the municipal waste issue.” Kuhn also said she worked on enacting the town’s latest ban on Battery Energy Storage Systems, one of the toughest statewide, and the town’s 18-month moratorium on data centers.

Regarding the town’s Industrial Development Agency, Kuhn said she “proudly opposed” tax breaks to luxury apartments because the town needs more home ownership opportunities.

“With each vote cast, I seek to represent my community. I am their voice, and I will bring that independent nature to Albany,” Kuhn said.

In February, one month into her council term, Kuhn accepted the Suffolk County GOP’s nomination for the seventh state assembly district. Kuhn said after incumbent assemblymember Gandolfo announced his State Senate run, that she was approached by the New York State Republican Party’s female leadership, as part of their “Women on the Rise” initiative, to elect more conservative-minded women to serve in the state legislature, with only three women of 47 members of the Conservative conference.

Kuhn said the deciding factor to run was her brother moving out-of-state, another “casualty of a state that has become too expensive to start a life.”

“All New Yorkers deserve a government that lives within its means so families can afford to stay here to build their future or retire with dignity in the very place they have called home for their entire lives,” Kuhn said. “I want to be that young millennial woman voice in the Assembly for my generation, the voice who will fight so Long Islanders don’t have to flee the state, just so they can afford to live.”

Regarding her campaign’s priorities, Kuhn cited safety and preserving the environment as top issues.

Kuhn supports repealing the state’s cashless bail laws, and opposes sanctuary state policies, citing the endorsements of law enforcement agencies statewide.

For the environment, Kuhn said she remains “committed to restoring the Great South Bay, expanding sewer infrastructure to improve water quality, and advancing responsible environmental policies that safeguard our natural treasures while supporting our local economy and quality of life.” If elected, Kuhn said she hopes to serve on the Environmental Conservation Committee. Kuhn is endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters.

Regarding affordability, Kuhn said she will fight to reduce taxes, eliminate “costly” unfunded state mandates that “drive up local property taxes,” lower utility and energy costs, and cut “wasteful government spending.”

Kuhn also supports an immediate suspension of the state sales tax and surcharges on gasoline and home heating oil for six months, with possible extensions. Kuhn also supports tax credits for first-time homebuyers, and a state tax dedication for childcare, with additional state funding for pre-K and 3-K programs.

For education, Kuhn said she will “fight to fully fund our public schools” and expand educational opportunities to students while opposing expansion of charter schools.

When asked why voters should choose her, Kuhn said she will be the type of representation who fights for her community.
“New York is on the wrong track, and I am the only candidate in this race who will speak up and fight to hold Albany accountable to the people and not the special interests,” Kuhn said. “This is not the time for on-the-job training, I am ready to serve on day one.”

Trish Kopp

Trish Kopp is a public school teacher and mother of four who was born and raised locally on the South Shore, and cites her family, education, community, and public service as having shaped nearly every part of her life.

For over 20 years, Kopp has worked as a teacher in the Half Hollow Hills and Brentwood School Districts, and is “a proud union member.” For years, Kopp has served as a Democratic grassroots organizer, canvassing for candidates and causes she felt passionate about.

Earlier this year, Kopp said she found out that the Suffolk County Democratic Committee wasn’t going to run a candidate for the state’s seventh assembly district. After filling in the paperwork and setting work into motion, Kopp said her campaign began and has grown to heights she never imagined.

“I knew that we had support from local women and committee members on the South Shore. I knew I had at least a starting point,” Kopp said. “But what I didn’t anticipate is how excited people would be for just a normal candidate, just a normal mom, teacher, somebody that they knew, not a professional politician.”

Kopp said her campaign has grown to include volunteers from across the South Shore, and reached her maximum number of state matching funds before most candidates. Fundraising events have reached capacity, and Kopp said the momentum behind her campaign is translating into building infrastructure for South Shore Democrats, in an area that has been dominated by Republican victories in recent years.

“It’s a moment where people want to get involved in local politics,” Kopp said.

By knocking on doors for three hours daily, Kopp said she’s learned that people locally are nervous and scared in the current political climate.

“They know that things are not normal, and even though this is a local election, when you speak to people, they’re anxious about the bigger issues that are happening,” Kopp said. “Democrats, independents, and even Republicans, they’re getting squeezed.”

Kopp said issues like thousands of Suffolk County residents losing health insurance from federal actions aren’t a “red versus blue issue” but an issue against billionaires.

Despite the Democrats holding a majority in the state legislature, Kopp said local residents don’t reap as many benefits as their neighbors in districts with Democratic politicians, due to those legislators having a seat at the table.

“It is an advantage to send somebody who can vote with the majorities to bring funding,” Kopp said.

Affordability is one of Kopp’s top campaign priorities. Kopp supports expanding the state government’s universal pre-K program and bringing incentives for young people looking to buy starter homes.

“In Patchogue, Bay Shore, some of those rents are like $3,500-$4000 a month, and you never are able to save for a deposit on a house,” Kopp said. “I have four kids; they’re all in their 20s. They would not be able to buy homes here right now.”

Kopp supports taxing billionaires to fund universal childcare and other initiatives to support “hard working taxpaying families.”

For the environment, Kopp said she will work to preserve parks, open spaces, the Great South Bay and the island’s aquifer, and promote clean energy. The Sierra Club has endorsed Kopp along with New York State United Teachers, Campaign for New York Health, and trades, communications, and laborers’ unions.

Kopp also opposes large-scale developments she believes are more detrimental to the South Shore, including a proposed 4.2-million-square foot Amazon warehouse in Holbrook, and the current proposal for 568 units at South Bay Village in Sayville.

Regarding education, Kopp said she “always advocated for the most possible state aid to school districts,” and as a teacher and union member, understands how factors like declining enrollment impact budgets and programming at schools she previously taught in. If elected, Kopp said she’d focus on maintaining funding for special education programs, along with the arts, which she said are often the first areas cut in budgets.

If elected, Kopp said she will work on using taxpayer dollars in ways that help the taxpayers the most.

“It really is my singular focus to however, and whenever possible, use [the] state government to help working families,” Kopp said. “There’s a sentiment that maybe [people] don’t believe that government really can help them anymore. But it’s my hope that people can believe in a brighter Suffolk County and understand that if you send a representative who really is interested in their best interest, that government can
help.”