Shelter Island voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly picked Democratic challenger Gerry Siller to be the next Town Supervisor. Siller, who held the post decades ago, beat one-term Republican incumbent Gary Gerth by 700 to 514 votes.
And, he led a possible Democratic sweep in races for the top Town spots.
In a five-way contest for two seats on the Town Council, newcomer Mike Bebon recorded the most votes, 597, followed by incumbent Jim Colligan, who had 504. The two ran on the Democratic ticket with Siller.
But absentee ballots had not yet been counted when the unofficial results were released by the Suffolk County Board of Elections (SCBOE) after 10 p.m. on Election Day.
Challenger Marcus Kaasik, a Republican, got 483 votes, trailing Colligan by just 21 votes — a margin that may change when the SCBOE tallies absentee ballots in the coming days.
Incumbent Paul Shepherd earned 395 votes. He ran on the Conservative, Independence and Libertarian party lines after the Shelter Island Republican Committee chose instead to back Kaasik and newcomer Julia Romanchuk Weisenberg, who got 385 votes.
Gerry Siller thanks his team
Around 10:30 p.m., the unofficial tally was projected on a TV at the end of the bar at the Ram’s Head Inn, where Democratic Party members had gathered after the polls closed. Supervisor Gerth arrived not long after from his party’s HQ at the American Legion Hall and shook hands with his rival.
Siller thanked Gerth, and told the crowd “Gary brought a lot of civility back to the Town Council.”
“You gotta remember I was a Democrat first,” Gerth replied, adding that John F. Kennedy was an early inspiration.
Then, in brief remarks, Siller thanked party leader Heather Reylek for organizing the three Democrats seeking the top town seats into a unified campaign .
“Once the three of us got together, we committed to do everything as a team,” Siller said of Bebon and Colligan. “That was very important for me, certainly. I think for all three of us, it worked out very well.
“But the beauty of the three of us in there is that we can hit the ground running,” Siller said. “We are going to get things done.”
Uncontested Town positions
The following incumbents were uncontested in their races and received the number of votes indicated, not including as yet uncounted absentee ballots:
- Receiver of Taxes Anne Marie Seddio (1,111)
- Superintendent of Highways Brian M. Sherman (1,118)
- Assessors Judith C. Lechmanski (1,063) and Craig Wood (1,011)
Note: This post has been updated to include vote tallies for uncontested positions and to add a photo of incumbent Supervisor Gary Gerth congratulating the winner.
