A man threw a cinderblock at a small group of people attending a political event for Democratic Eastchester Town Supervisor candidate Cat Sayles, shouting at attendees before he was identified by police as an emotionally disturbed non-resident with no ties to the town or to incumbent Supervisor Tony Colavita's campaign. No one was hurt, but the incident has become the center of a bitter public dispute between the two candidates just weeks before New York's new even-year election calendar brings Eastchester's town races to the ballot alongside the governor's race for the first time.
According to Yonkers Times, the man entered the facility hosting Sayles's event, shouted at the people gathered there, and threw a cinderblock at a small group before Eastchester police identified him as a known emotionally disturbed person living in New Rochelle who had been arrested several times before for violent acts and vandalism. Sayles was advised by the Eastchester Police Department about the man's disabilities and past conduct, and she chose not to press charges, according to the same report.
Colavita, who is seeking reelection to a two-year term in November 2026, responded with a statement condemning what he called the use of unrelated actions by non-residents for political gain. He said no one in his campaign has engaged in threats, intimidation, or political violence, and he accused Sayles of portraying the man's actions as bullying orchestrated by him and his supporters. He called linking the man to his administration or campaign irresponsible and reprehensible, and he demanded an apology for what he described as misleading, false accusations, saying Eastchester deserves better.
Sayles Campaign Describes a Broader Pattern
The Sayles campaign issued its own statement framing the cinderblock incident as part of an ongoing pattern of harassment and intimidation rather than an isolated event. Per the Yonkers Times report, the campaign said it has experienced online trolling, threatening messages it says incited violence against Democrats, disappearing lawn signs, and dog waste left under campaign signage. The campaign also said volunteers have been intimidated at public events and that a man screamed obscenities at attendees — including a child — before throwing the cinderblock toward the group.
The Sayles campaign filed a police report with the Eastchester Police Department, which is handling the matter, the same account notes. Sayles said she would not back down or be intimidated, and said residents told her in March that they feared retaliation when collecting ballot petition signatures. She said she wants an Eastchester rooted in dignity, care for neighbors, and civility.
Colavita, for his part, said he has never condoned violence or threats of violence. He pointed to a separate incident in which a person living out of state, with no connection to his administration or campaign, made a statement about death to Democrats; he said his opponent's campaign distributed flyers about that statement throughout Eastchester. In his account of the Sayles-related incident, Colavita said a block was thrown outside an event for his opponent; the man's actions and his lack of ties to either camp remain the central point of dispute between the two statements.
A Rare Democratic Target in a Republican Stronghold
The fight over the incident lands in the middle of what is already a high-stakes race. All five members of the Eastchester Town Board are Republicans, making the town one of the last remaining Republican-controlled municipal governments in a Westchester County that has otherwise trended increasingly Democratic, according to a 2021 Yonkers Times endorsement piece. Colavita has held the supervisor's office for more than two decades, winning nine consecutive re-election bids after first taking office in the 2000s, often without major-party opposition in prior odd-year cycles.
Colavita's family has deep roots in Eastchester and county Republican politics. His late father, Anthony J. Colavita, who died in October 2024 at age 88, previously served as Eastchester Supervisor and Town Attorney and chaired both the Westchester Republican County Committee and the New York State Republican Committee, according to the Westchester Funeral Home. The elder Colavita also helped the town acquire its Lake Isle Country Club during his tenure, per the same memorial notice.
Supervisor Colavita has leaned heavily on the town's fiscal record in his campaign. Official municipal financial records cited by the Town of Eastchester show the town maintained a 0% financial stress rating from the New York State Comptroller and an Aaa bond rating from Moody's, while keeping average tax rate increases outside villages under 1% over five years — figures Colavita presented during his biennial State of the Town address.
Even-Year Election Law Reshapes the Battlefield
Sayles, the Democratic challenger, serves as Chief Operating Officer of Sustainable Westchester, a municipal clean-energy nonprofit consortium, and previously founded the Southern Westchester chapter of Mothers Out Front, according to Eastchester.Net. Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins has endorsed her campaign, citing her operational background and advocating for closer coordination between the town and county, per posts on the Cat Sayles campaign's Facebook page. Jenkins took over as county executive after former executive George Latimer was elected to Congress.
Sayles is one of several Westchester Democrats challenging the county's remaining Republican officeholders this cycle, alongside Mt. Pleasant Supervisor Carl Fulgenzi and Westchester County legislators James Nolan and Margaret Cunzio, according to the Yonkers Times report. Local Democrats are hoping that New York's new Even-Year Election Law, which places the governor's race atop the 2026 ticket, will help them sweep local races long dominated by Republicans.
The law, which the state legislature passed in December 2023, was unanimously upheld by the New York Court of Appeals in October 2025 after more than 20 local governments challenged it on home-rule grounds, according to a separate Yonkers Times report. Lower courts had briefly blocked the law in 2024 before appellate courts reinstated it. A pending federal lawsuit filed by New York Republican organizations, with lead counsel William Brewer III, contends the law forces voters to rely on partisan cues rather than evaluating local candidates on municipal issues, the outlet reports. Research cited in that same report found that aligning local elections with gubernatorial races can boost turnout by 10 to 20 percentage points compared with typical odd-year turnouts of 20% to 30%, a dynamic both campaigns are clearly aware could reshape who turns out in Eastchester this November.
