Democrat Joseph Scianablo claimed victory late Tuesday night in the Hempstead Town supervisor's race, with Republican incumbent John Ferretti conceding, according to a town spokesman cited in the report. The result, if it holds, would mark only the second time in roughly 120 years that a Democrat has won the top job in the sprawling Long Island town, and it comes just a year after Ferretti beat Scianablo in the same contest.
Conflicting Reports on Ferretti's Concession
The claim of victory was first reported by Newsday, which wrote that Ferretti conceded as Scianablo declared himself the winner. But not every outlet agreed on that point. The Long Island Press reported that Ferretti had not conceded the race at the time of its article, leaving the final outcome in dispute even as Scianablo and his supporters celebrated. Underscoring the uncertainty, Herald Community Newspapers cautioned that all results remained unofficial pending the counting of outstanding ballots and certification by election officials.
The vote margin itself varied slightly depending on when each outlet pulled numbers. With more than 90% of Hempstead precincts reporting, Greater Long Island had Scianablo up about 51.7% to 48%. The Long Island Press, citing unofficial early returns, put Scianablo ahead by more than 10,000 votes, with the candidates at 51% and 47%, respectively.
A Campaign Built on Accountability
Scianablo said his showing reflected a town hungry for something different, telling Newsday his election shows residents are “craving change, craving accountability.” The Long Island Press reported that his campaign centered on government transparency, financial accountability and improving basic town services — themes he leaned on after falling short against Ferretti just a year earlier.
That earlier contest went decisively the other way. According to unofficial results reported by Patch, Ferretti won the November 2025 election with 88,534 votes, or 53.25%, while Scianablo received 77,639 votes, or 46.7%. Ferretti had been serving as supervisor since August of that year before voters affirmed him at the ballot box, making this week's reported reversal a sharp swing in just twelve months.
Echoes of a 2017 Breakthrough
Any Democratic win in Hempstead carries historical weight. Newsday noted that until the 2017 blue wave that elected Laura Gillen as town supervisor, no Democrat had been elected the town's leader in 100 years. Greater Long Island similarly reported that Hempstead had a Republican supervisor for all but two of the previous 100 years — 2018 and 2019, under Gillen.
Gillen's own 2017 win was itself a historic upset. Herald Community Newspapers reported that she defeated Republican incumbent Anthony Santino by roughly 2,000 votes, becoming the town's first Democratic supervisor in more than a century. Santino conceded the following Wednesday morning, the paper reported, vowing to work with Gillen toward a smooth transition — a precedent that stands in contrast to the murkier concession picture surrounding this week's Hempstead results.
Part of a Broader Shift
Scianablo's apparent win did not happen in isolation. Herald Community Newspapers described a blue wave sweeping across Long Island in Tuesday's midterm elections, and Greater Long Island reported that Democrats won control of both the U.S. House and the Senate nationally. As Daily Voice framed it, the Hempstead result landed amid that wider national shift, with Hempstead Town once again finding itself at the center of a political turnaround few saw coming after Ferretti's win just last year.
