By Long Island Life & Politics
Registered Republicans in Huntington and Smithtown go to the polls today to select candidates to represent the party in the November election.
The GOP primary for the Huntington Town Board elections has been nothing short of contentious, with accusations of campaign finance violations and making deals with the Democratic Party.
According to local news media reports, Save Huntington 2025 — the team composed of Councilwoman and supervisor candidate Brooke Lupinacci, and town council candidates Eugene Cook and John Posillico — violated state campaign finance laws by holding a fundraiser in April without disclosing the event’s financials. The Huntington GOP announced it filed a supplemental complaint on this. The Republican group also accused Lupinacci of screening with the local Democratic Committees before her primary run.
Ed Smyth was elected Town Supervisor in 2021. Under his leadership, Huntington’s bond rating was upgraded to AAA by Fitch, while Moody’s maintained the town’s AAA rating for the 10th consecutive year, saving taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. He also passed a budget below the mandated tax cap for the eighth consecutive year.
Smyth spearheaded technological upgrades to the building department, improved the permitting process, and oversaw major revitalization projects, including the reconstruction of Al Walker Park and a $1.5 million playground installation at Heckscher Park.
Before serving as supervisor, he was elected to the town board in 2017, becoming part of the first Republican majority in a quarter-century.
A 25-plus-year Huntington resident, Dr. Dave Bennardo has dedicated his career to education, serving as both a high school principal and the superintendent of South Huntington Schools.
Since joining the Town Council in 2021, he has worked to improve drinking water quality, protect beaches and shorelines, enhance parks, and ensure record road paving. During his tenure, the town maintained its AAA bond rating through tax cap-compliant budgeting.
Greg Grizopoulos is running on a platform of fiscal responsibility, community safety, promoting integrity and transparency in government, progress but no overdevelopment and preserving Huntington’s suburban character and quality of life.
A former assistant district attorney, Grizopoulos prosecuted violent crimes and serious felonies, gaining extensive experience in law enforcement and public safety. He also served as Nassau County’s Stop-DWI Special Prosecutor and has trained officers in alcohol breath testing, highway safety, and accident reconstruction.
Lupinacci, who is running against Smyth and was a Suffolk County assistant district attorney, is running on preserving the town’s suburban quality of life. She opposed the Melville overlay district, which entails mixed-use residential and retail buildings, as well as a walkable downtown area along Maxxess Road.
Like Lupinacci, Gene Cook — a former town councilman who ran against Smyth in 2021 as an independent when he didn’t get the GOP’s nomination and lost — is running on a quality-of-life platform. However, as a councilman in 2021, he voted in favor of Matinecock Court, a low-income housing project in East Northport, which Smyth voted against.
Posillico, the former chairman of the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals with more than 30 years of experience in land use, according to Save Huntington 2025.