Rick Martel Wins Back Seat on Southampton Town Board

Republican former Southampton Town Councilman Rick Martel won back his seat on the town board in the March 18 special election against Democrat John Leonard to fill vacancy on the council.

Martel won 52% of the vote over Leonard’s 46% with a 354-vote margin, according to the unofficial early returns tallied by the Suffolk County Board of Elections. 

The election was to fill the seat vacated when former Southampton Town Councilman Tommy John Schiavoni (D-Southampton) was elected to represent much of the East End in the New York State Assembly.

The election came as the Democratic-majority town board is grappling with weighty issues including a legal battle with the Shinnecock Nation over the tribe’s planned Hampton Bays travel plaza, a proposal to phase out sand mines, and a moratorium on battery energy storage systems.

Martel, a Hampton Bays resident who also ran on the Conservative Party line, was ousted from the town board by Democrat Michael Iasilli in the 2023 elections.

Leonard, who is also from Hampton Bays and additionally ran on the Working Families Party line, is a longtime lawyer, co-founder of the affordable housing advocacy group known as the Hampton Bays Alliance, and member of the town zoning board of appeals.

Martel will reportedly face Leonard again in the November elections.