New York State Assembly Third District race

State assemblyman Joe DeStefano (R, C) will be seeking re-election to his fifth term in the Third District against lifelong resident and labor leader Josh Slaughter.

DESTEFANO, R, incumbent

DeStefano was first elected to the New York State Assembly in 2018. As assemblyman, DeStefano led two local bills to designate the Long Island Expressway overpass at Yaphank Avenue as the “Sgt. Louis Bonacasa Memorial Bridge” and the overpass at Horseblock Road as the “Medford FD Commissioner Niel Marturiello Memorial Bridge.”

He is also proud of introducing the bill that cleared the way for the Patchogue-Medford Library to build its new Medford Branch. He has also helped secure hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant funding for other libraries, parks, EMS, veterans, and youth organizations in his district. 

His top priorities include making the community safer and more affordable, and protecting water and other natural resources. He said he also supports preserving the property tax cap while pushing Albany to curb spending and is a proud supporter of fire services, law enforcement, and the military.

DeStefano, 66, a resident of Medford, is also the elected Medford Fire District commissioner. He is married to his wife Linda, with two children and two grandchildren.

His record of service dates back to 1980 when he joined the Medford Fire Department and Ambulance Service.

For the past 30 years, he’s served as a fire district commissioner, having also held the positions of fire police lieutenant, second lieutenant, department recording secretary, department vice president, and department president. He’s also served with the Medford Volunteer Ambulance for over 40 years. He was also the district manager of the Riverhead Fire District and is a life member of both the Medford Fire Department and Ambulance Company.

A 1978 Patchogue-Medford High School graduate, DeStefano also has an associate’s degree in business management from Suffolk Community College.

He went on to become a public safety communication supervisor in the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office for 28 years. He also served as the president of the Sheriff’s Probation Civilian Unit.

SLAUGHTER, D, challenger

Josh Slaughter is a lifelong resident of the area and a Pat-Med High School graduate. He currently lives in his Shirley home with his wife Marina and two children.

As the son of a Pat-Med teacher and union truck driver, he earned a political science degree from SUNY Albany. In 2018, he returned home to serve as chief of staff to former Suffolk County Legis. Kate Browning. He held that position for 12 years.

During his time with Browning, he helped fight for substandard housing and crime, preserve more than 1,000 acres of open space, and secured over $200 million to build the Forge River sewer district.

Since then, he has been a labor leader serving as Long Island political director for Laborers Local 66, advocating for union construction workers and good-paying careers.

As a labor leader, he said he has established New York’s first union high school pre-apprenticeship program with a direct pathway for students into a local union career with zero college debt. He has also advanced policies to enhance worker safety on large construction sites in Long Island’s towns and fought to advance project labor agreements on public construction projects.

Slaughter said he is running for New York State Assembly to put middle-class families back at the center of politics. His priorities include bringing down the cost of living on Long Island, investing in aging infrastructure, protecting and preserving the environment, and creating good-paying jobs for local workers.

“For far too long, our community has gone without a strong voice in Albany, and our needs have been neglected. We need to put working people back at the center of our politics,” he said. “From our crumbling infrastructure, to middle-class families being priced out, I am the fighter that will make these critical issues a priority. I have a long track record of getting things done here locally and fighting for working people, and I will be a strong voice in the majority where I will be better positioned to deliver for our community. It’s time for change.”

Specifically, he said, he supports restoring and expanding access to New York’s Essential Plan, holding insurance companies accountable, and protecting ratepayers by capping corporate insurance profits and eliminating discriminatory practices of setting rates based on ZIP code and age.

He said he also believes the wealthiest New Yorkers and largest corporations should pay their fair share to help fund the expansion of essential services like affordable childcare for working families.

He also said he wants to ensure the state plays a large role in cleaning up the landfill plume that is polluting groundwater in the region.

Additionally, he said, he wants to expand his union’s high school pre-apprenticeship program to all public schools in the district.

He promised to also prioritize improvements to Long Island Rail Road service at the Mastic-Shirley and Bellport stations, mitigate traffic congestion in the district by constructing an overpass/underpass at the William Floyd Parkway railroad crossing, expand Sunrise Highway from two to three lanes from Hospital Road to Wading River Road, and revitalize the Route 112 corridor in Medford.

“I want to fight back against the unchecked warehouse development that has exploded in the region and keep in place a statewide moratorium on large-scale data center development that threatens our environment and utility bills until safeguards are in place that prevent increases to local ratepayers and protect our environment,” he added, noting he also opposes tax breaks for these facilities.