Acting Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas defeated Michael A. Scotto in a Democratic primary Thursday to win the party nomination for November’s district attorney race against Republican Kate Murray.
Singas received 72.80 percent (8,033 votes) of the 11,035 votes, while Scotto took 27.01 percent (2,981 votes), according to the Nassau County Board of Elections, which at publication had counted 99.08 percent of county precincts.
There were 21 write-in votes cast, according to the election board.
Flanked by her family at a results watch party at Louie’s Oyster Bar & Grille in Port Washington, Singas said she was eager to continue the work of her predecessor, U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City), as an “aggressive and tough” prosecutor.
“We took a step towards ending public corruption, fighting the scourge of heroin and cracking down on violent criminals,” said Singas, of Manhasset. “Most importantly, we took a step towards making sure Nassau County has a lifelong prosecutor, not a career politician, as district attorney.”
Scotto, who awaited the result at a supporter’s residence in Port Washington, said he and his campaign had spoken to at least 10,000 people who were unsatisfied with the district attorney’s office under Singas, but cited a low turnout in declaring the primary.
“It seems the voting public aren’t concerned about heroin, violent crime and political corruption,” said Scotto, himself a Port Washington resident.
Scotto campaign staffers said they expected the race against Singas would be an uphill battle, as the acting DA had been endorsed by the Nassau County Democratic Committee in May and challenged in court Scotto’s campaign petitions.
“We didn’t leave anything in the gas tank,” Scotto said, commending his staff.
In declaring victory, Singas touted her 24 years with the Queens and Nassau district attorney offices and chided Murray, the the Town of Hempstead supervisor, for having never worked as a prosecutor or practicing law in the last 17 years.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” she said, “public safety and the safety of our neighborhoods is too important to hand over to someone who is not trained or qualified to do the job.”
Nassau County Democratic Committee Chairman Jay Jacobs, who announced that the board of elections had declared Singas the winner shortly after 70 percent of precincts were tallied, also championed Singas as “a professional prosecutor, as opposed to the other side, who wants to put a fox in the hen house.”
A Murray campaign spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
