Incumbent Fred Thiele reelected

In the New York State Assembly First District, incumbent Fred Thiele Jr. had a tight race, with 55 percent of the vote against Peter Ganley, who had 44 percent of the vote, or 28,441 votes, to Ganley’s 23,475 votes.

Thiele is a lifelong resident of Sag Harbor, where he currently lives with his wife, NancyLynn. He has three children and three grandchildren. 

He is a 1971 graduate of Pierson High School and attended Cornell University and is a 1976 graduate of Southampton College of Long Island University. In 1979, he received his law degree from Albany Law School. In 1980, he was admitted to the bar in the State of New York.

He began his career in government service in 1975 after he was selected by his college to participate in the New York State Assembly Intern Program. Upon graduation from law school in 1979, he became counsel to then-assemblyman John Behan of Montauk. From 1982–1987, he was Southampton town attorney.  In 1987, he was elected to the Suffolk County Legislature. In 1991, Thiele was elected as an Independent to serve as Southampton Town supervisor. In 1995, he was then elected to the New York State Assembly to fill the seat vacated by assemblyman John Behan. Thiele is currently serving his 13th term in the New York State Assembly.  Thiele has also been very involved in transportation with a focused on affordable housing. He also serves as the chairman of the Assembly Local Governments Committee and serves as a member of the Rules Committee, Environmental Conservation Committee, Oversight, Analysis and Investigation Committee, and Transportation Committee.

Kathy Hochul was victorious for the New York State Governor seat in the most anticipated race of the evening, with 52.73 percent (3,022,429 votes), beating out Republican opponent Lee Zeldin, who received 47.27 percent (2,709,903 votes). 

Also, the 2022 Statewide Ballot Proposal, Proposition No. 1, passed with overwhelming numbers with 69.1 percent of the vote, or over 2.9 million ‘yes’ votes to the 1.2 million ‘no’ votes, on Tuesday, Nov. 8.
The proposition will allow the Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022 to address and combat the impact of climate change and damage to the environment by authorizing the sale of state bonds up to four billion two hundred million dollars to fund environmental protection, natural restoration, resiliency, and clean energy projects.

Now that the proposition has passed, the act will allow the state to borrow up to $4,200,000,000 to provide funding for capital projects for restoration and flood risk reduction (at least $1,100,000,000), open space land conservation and recreation (up to $650,000,000), climate change mitigation (up to $1,500,000,000), and water quality improvement and resilient infrastructure (at least $650,000,000).

The proposal also will allow the state to refund the debt to take advantage of lower interest by allowing the comptroller to issue additional state bonds in sums up to or exceeding the amount of the bonds initially issued to refund, to advance refund, or otherwise to repay part or all of such bonds prior to the scheduled dates of their maturity.