Giglio seeks fourth term as she targets Albany spending, public safety

Republican incumbent Jodi Giglio is eyeing her fourth term in the state’s 2nd Assembly District, with public safety, the cost of living and runaway government spending among her top priorities.

Ms. Giglio — who faces Democrat Michael J. Szika and Voter Options candidate Kimberly Wilder in the Nov. 3 election —supports a gradual transition to renewable energy, but said higher energy rates, along with property taxes, are among the main reasons people leave New York.

She also criticized Albany’s spending, saying it has made the area even less affordable.

“We really need to rein in the spending in the state of New York,” Ms. Giglio told the Times Review Editorial Board during a sit-down. “That is the reason, because of the policies that are made in Albany, that is making New York so unaffordable.”

Ms. Giglio, who serves on the Assembly Agriculture Committee, said she has also been working to protect local farmers when fruits and vegetables test positive for “forever chemicals” known as PFAS.

“[The produce] could have come from Hunts Point; it could have come from a farm upstate that is being sold at one of our farm stands here,” she said. “That was a big issue that I was successful in saying, leave our lowland farmers alone. That would have been a really big hit for the farmers.”

Ms. Giglio said the growing toxic PFAS plume at the former Grumman site in Calverton is very concerning, and that while it’s a federal problem, there are clean-water initiatives in the state budget that she supported to help connect residents to public water.

She called delays in the Navy’s cleanup effort “a smack in the face” to all the people looking for a solution.

“What is very important to me is getting everybody connected to public water, and for the towns and the water authorities to be able to make that happen,” she said.

Ms. Giglio said land preservation is primarily a local issue, but pointed to the 4-H camp on Sound Avenue as a top priority.

Peconic Land Trust is currently in contract with Nassau County to purchase the 145-acre Baiting Hollow property, which includes the Dorothy P. Flint 4-H Camp, for $10 million. The contract must close simultaneously with an agreement for Suffolk County to purchase development rights on a portion of the farmland.

The deal had initially been targeting a Dec. 2 closing, but the timeline is now expected to extend into early 2027.

On immigration enforcement, OLA of Eastern Long Island has proposed a public safety policy governing how local police interact with federal agents when there’s activity across North Fork hamlets.

Ms. Giglio said she has “full confidence in law enforcement” and that ICE “gets a bad rap,” but said changes are also needed.

“I think that not only the judicial warrants process needs to be changed, but I think also we need to go back to the days of sponsoring [immigrants],” Ms. Giglio said. “If you’re a business owner and you think that somebody is a good person, let that business owner sponsor them.”

She’s also against the state’s even-year election law, saying the number of names on ballots can cause “voter fatigue.”

Ms. Giglio currently serves as vice chair of the Assembly Minority Conference and ranking minority member of the People with Disabilities Committee. She also serves on the Agriculture, Governmental Employees, Labor, Transportation and Ways and Means committees.

She said working with colleagues across the aisle has not been a problem, noting that she frequently has dinner with Democratic colleagues.

Following redistricting changes in 2022, New York’s 2nd Assembly District no longer includes Southold Town and now encompasses Riverhead, Calverton, Shoreham, Wading River, parts of Manorville and northern portions of Southampton Town.

“I’m really upset about losing Southold,” Ms. Giglio told the Times Review editorial board during a sit-down interview. “I feel like from Orient Point to Mount Sinai, which was my district, had a lot more in common as a block than making the South Fork and the North Fork one block.”

Despite the change in boundaries, Ms. Giglio said her approach to representing the district remains the same.

“I love my district. I try to be at everything, see everyone, and talk to everyone,” she said. “I really enjoy talking to people and finding out what their issues are.”