Pat Halpin becomes presumptive Democratic congressional nominee

After weeks of litigation regarding the legality of his opponent’s signatures collected for the June primary, Democratic congressional candidate Pat Halpin is set to become the party’s nominee for November’s election.

Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice John J. Leo ruled that Democratic candidate Jessica Murphy be removed from the June primary ballot after a line-by-line review of signatures Murphy’s team collected left her around two dozen signatures short of qualifying for the primary, leaving Halpin with no opponents for the party’s nomination.

“We respect the court’s decision and appreciate the careful review of the petitions according to N.Y. State law,” Halpin said in a statement. “My full focus now is replacing Andrew Garbarino, who’s just not doing his job to oversee the Trump Administration.”

A Halpin campaign spokesperson added that their team is looking to unite the Democratic Party around a common cause ahead of the November election, and that Halpin has been talking with Murphy’s supporters, many of whom are upset about the court’s ruling.

In early April, Democratic congressional candidates Halpin, Murphy, and Garrett Petersen submitted petitions to the State Board of Elections to qualify for the June primary ballot.

The Halpin and Murphy teams quickly challenged Petersen’s petitions, arguing they lacked sufficient valid signatures to qualify. Democratic congressional candidates must receive 1,250 valid signatures.

And while Petersen received around 1,270 signatures, Halpin and Murphy both alleged that enough signatures contained incorrect information to invalidate Petersen from the ballot. Petersen accepted this and soon dropped out of the race, endorsing whoever became the Democratic nominee.

Along with the Petersen challenge, Halpin’s team challenged Murphy’s signatures with the State Board of Elections and Suffolk County Supreme Court, alleging that around 700 of the almost 1,900 signatures Murphy collected were invalid.

The Halpin team alleged that hundreds of Murphy’s signatories weren’t registered Democrats, provided inaccurate addresses, and didn’t live in the district, among other complaints.

The State Board of Elections, on April 20, reported that 507 of Murphy’s signatures were invalid, leaving her with 1,380 valid signatures—enough to qualify for the primary. A few days later, a line-by-line review by the Suffolk County Supreme Court found that of the 1,380 signatures, 156 were invalid, leaving Murphy 26 signatures short of qualifying.

Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Leo ordered that primary ballots exclude Murphy’s name from them, but Murphy filed an appeal.

Murphy’s attorney claimed that the court didn’t recognize an affidavit signed by someone who collected dozens of signatures for Murphy, which were later invalidated because the collector didn’t properly write their address. The affidavit affirmed the collector’s identity and address and was signed before Justice Leo issued his decision.

While the affidavit wasn’t admitted into evidence, it was mentioned by the judge or the attorneys in court. Justice Leo granted a new hearing on May 11, in which numerous Murphy supporters attended, some wearing “Handmaid’s Tale” costumes and holding signs that said they “will not yield to disrespectful men.”

Justice Leo ruled against Murphy, saying her team didn’t follow the proper validating procedures and waited too long in their appeal since the Board of Elections would print primary ballots soon.

“We feel it is an unfair decision, but it is what it is,” Murphy said. “We had witnesses that their signatures were taken off for technicalities, and they were there to tell the judge that it was really their signature; they took off of work, and he didn’t even want to hear it.”

“You win and lose sometimes on technicalities,” Justice Leo said during the May 11 court appearance. “You want to change that, go to the legislature.”

Murphy had no comment on whether she’d support Halpin’s candidacy as he faces incumbent U.S. Rep. Garbarino in November, but said she plans on working with other state-level campaigns.

Halpin faces an uphill battle to win in November. Along with trying to unite a politically fractured local Democratic base, the Second Congressional District is rated “solidly Republican” by the Cook Political Report, along with other pundits. Garbarino’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.