Politics of Long Island

Long Island, as a major region of New York State, has a significant impact on state and national politics.

Nassau County and Suffolk County each have their own governments, with a county executive leading each. Each has a county legislature as well as other countywide-elected officials, such as district attorney, county clerk and county comptroller. The towns in both counties have their own governments as well, with town supervisors and a town council.

Brooklyn and Queens, on the other hand, do not have independent county governments. As boroughs of New York City, both have borough presidents, largely ceremonial offices with little political power since the shutdown of the city's Board of Estimate due to a Supreme Court decision which declared it unconstitutional and led to a reorganization of the city government.

Politically, Nassau and Suffolk counties were long controlled by the Republican Party. Republican presidential candidates won both counties from 1900 until 1988, with the exception of the 1912 victory of Woodrow Wilson and the Lyndon B. Johnson landslide of 1964. In 1972, Richard Nixon won Nassau, Suffolk, and Queens, and came within 14,000 votes of winning heavily Democratic Brooklyn. This remains the last time that a Republican won Queens, and no Republican has carried Brooklyn since 1924.

In 1992, Nassau voted Democratic and has done so through 2020, although sometimes by fairly close margins. Suffolk County voted Democratic in 1996 and stayed there through the 2012 elections, also by fairly close margins. For instance, in 2004, John Kerry won Suffolk County by just under 14,000 votes. The close 2004 margins followed large victories for Al Gore in Nassau and Suffolk in 2000, and many observers think the 2004 results were more of a reflection of a 9/11 bump President George W. Bush received through portions of the New York City metro area (as his numbers jumped quite a bit from 2000 in Staten Island, Rockland County, and parts of North Jersey as well) rather than a reversal of the Democratic trend. In 2016, Suffolk County voted for the Republican Donald Trump, while Nassau County voted for the Democrat Hillary Clinton, with an overall combined victory for Trump on Long Island. In 2020, Nassau and Suffolk again split, with Suffolk voting for Trump, however by a greatly reduced margin of just 232 votes, and Nassau voting for Democrat Joe Biden, by an increased margin. This, in contrast to 2016, led to an overall combined victory for Biden on Long Island. Suffolk County was the closest county by percentage in the nation in 2020. In 2024, both Nassau and Suffolk went for Trump, by sizable margins. This reflected the general shift seen across the country towards Trump.

Five of New York's 26 congressional districts are located on Long Island. The 1st, 2nd, and 4th districts are entirely located on Long Island, while the 3rd is primarily within Long Island with a small portion in Queens, and the 5th is primarily located within Queens. Of them, the Democratic Party represents three; Tom Suozzi in the 3rd district, Laura Gillen in the 4th and Gregory Meeks in the 5th district. The Republicans are represented by Nick LaLota and Andrew Garbarino in the 1st and 2nd districts, respectively.

In 2000, Senator Hillary Clinton lost both Nassau and Suffolk to Republican Rick Lazio, who had previously served as a congressman from Suffolk County. While the 2004 results did show a much stronger showing for Republican President George W. Bush across Nassau and Suffolk County, it did not hurt Democrat Chuck Schumer and his re-election bid in the area. Schumer won both Nassau and Suffolk in a landslide receiving close to 70% of the vote in both counties. Republican Governor George Pataki won both Nassau and Suffolk in all three of his victories.

In 2006, Long Island continued its Democratic trend. Helped by a strong Democratic win nationwide, Democrats Eliot Spitzer and Hillary Clinton won Long Island in a landslide in the gubernatorial and U.S. Senate race respectively. Democratic Comptroller Alan Hevesi, despite being scandal-ridden, won on Long Island, and Democrat Andrew Cuomo won all of the island's counties in the attorney general race, with Republican Jeanine Pirro narrowly losing in Suffolk. Republican Peter T. King held on to his congressional seat in a race against Nassau County Legislator Dave Mejias by a 56%–44% margin, even as two other New York Republican congressmen lost their seats upstate and one open Republican seat flipped to the Democrats. His 12-point margin of victory was less than half his margins in past elections. Democratic strength has eroded in the region recently, as Republicans swept every county and congressional district in the 2022 elections, which comes after Democrat Barack Obama did the same in 2008 and 2012.