U.S. House · New York's 1st Congressional District

Eastern Long Island, covering all of Suffolk County east of Smithtown/Islip (the North and South Forks, the Hamptons, and the Suffolk suburbs including Amityville and Babylon).

General election · Tuesday, November 3, 2026

✓ Fact-checked 2026-09-25: 20 claims re-checked against their sources · 1 corrected · 0 removed

A second, independent research pass re-opened every cited source for this race and corrected or removed anything the source didn’t support.

  • Removed a stray duplicate 'electionDate' key at the bottom of the file (redundant with the top-level field, no content change).

On the ballot · 2 candidates

Where they stand — side by side

Only positions documented in a cited source are shown. Where an officeholder’s recorded votes speak to an issue, the votes set the position (marked “votes”). A dash means we found no clear public position — not that the candidate has none.

ISSUENicholas J. LaLota
RC
Christopher Gallant
D
Protect legal access to abortion—Supports[3]
Expand immigration enforcement and deportationsSupports[2]—
Raise taxes on high earners or corporationsOpposes[2]—
Expand public health coverage—Supports[3]

The candidates, in full

Nicholas J. LaLota

RCINCUMBENTU.S. Representative for NY-1 (since 2023)

Nicholas J. LaLota is the incumbent U.S. Representative for New York's 1st Congressional District, first elected in 2022. A U.S. Navy veteran and former Suffolk County elections commissioner, he sits on the House Appropriations Committee, where he is Vice Chair of the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee, and on the Small Business Committee, where he chairs the Contracting and Infrastructure Subcommittee.[2]

Basic profile — the most important sourced facts we found.

On the record — official actions

  • actionServes on the House Appropriations Committee (Vice Chair, Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee) and the House Small Business Committee (Chairman, Contracting and Infrastructure Subcommittee) in the 119th Congress (2025-2026).[2]
  • actionServed on the House Homeland Security Committee and House Armed Services Committee in the 118th Congress (2023-2024).[2]

Positions on the issues

  • SupportsExpand immigration enforcement and deportations

    Supports stronger border enforcement and has sponsored legislation opposing New York's sanctuary-city policies.[2]

  • OpposesRaise taxes on high earners or corporations

    Has made restoring the federal SALT (state and local tax) deduction cap a signature priority, which would reduce federal tax liability for higher earners in high-tax states like New York.[2]

In their words — priorities

  • Describes his focus as border security and opposing New York's sanctuary-city policies, restoring the SALT deduction, and reducing federal spending while protecting Social Security, Medicare, and veterans' health care.[2]
  • Cites membership in the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus and For Country Caucus as reflecting a preference for cross-party solutions over partisanship.[2]

Background

  • Served in the U.S. Navy from 1996 to 2007, including three overseas deployments; earned a bachelor's degree from the U.S. Naval Academy (2000), an MBA from Hofstra University (2012), and a law degree from Hofstra University (2020).[2]
  • Worked as chief of staff and an elections commissioner for Suffolk County, and as chief of staff and Long Island director for a New York State Senate office, before being elected to Congress.[2]

Christopher Gallant

D

Won the June 23 Democratic primary

Christopher Gallant is a New York Army National Guard Black Hawk pilot, former FAA air traffic controller, volunteer firefighter, and union leader running for the Democratic nomination-turned-general-election challenger in NY-1. He won the June 23, 2026 Democratic primary.[3]

Basic profile — the most important sourced facts we found.

Positions on the issues

  • SupportsProtect legal access to abortion

    Says he will fight to protect reproductive freedom.[3]

  • SupportsExpand public health coverage

    Prioritizes protecting and improving medical accessibility and affordability, particularly for seniors and veterans.[3]

In their words — priorities

  • Says his campaign focuses on affordability (housing, groceries, energy), protecting Medicare, Social Security, and veterans' benefits, and defending voting rights and reproductive freedom.[3]
  • Says his priorities include affordable housing, education, health care access, fair wages, veterans' benefits, and government accountability.[3]

Background

  • Born in Smithtown, New York; has served in the New York Army National Guard since 2006 and earned a bachelor's degree from Dowling College in 2014.[3]
  • Career experience includes working as a federal employee (air traffic controller) and local union president, and serving as an Equal Opportunity representative in the U.S. Army.[3]
  • Is affiliated with the Copiague Fire Department, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the American Legion, among other organizations.[3]

Campaign money

Raised $648K · spent $475K · $172K cash on hand (through 2026-06-30) FEC filing ↗

Research notes & limits

LaLota's priorities and positions draw on his 2024 Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey (he had not completed a 2026 survey as of research date); his committee assignments and biography are current. Sponsored-bill detail for LaLota is limited to what Ballotpedia's biography and survey summarize, since congress.gov blocked automated access during research.

Sources · 3

Researched 2026-09-25. Green citations are official government records.

  1. 1.New York's 1st Congressional District election, 2026 · Ballotpedia · 2026-09-22 Reference
  2. 2.Nicholas LaLota · Ballotpedia Reference
  3. 3.Christopher Gallant · Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey Candidate's own words