The race for mayor of Hempstead has lost one strong potential Democratic candidate, with Kevan Abrahams, D-Hempstead, at left, emphatically rejecting a possible run against incumbent Democratic Mayor Wayne Hall.
“Sure I was asked,” Abrahams, the legislature’s deputy presiding officer, said last week without naming who asked him. “But I don’t want the job. First, my wife is expecting, and, second, I don’t need that kind of headache. In addition, I support the current mayor.”
Village trustee Perry Pettus, a Democrat and local businessman who ran against Hall as an independent in 2005, has already declared he is seriously considering another try for the job. “I’m not even sure Wayne [Hall] will run again,” he said.
But Hall said he is definitely seeking re-election and has never indicated otherwise. “I intend to run — and win,” he said.
There are at least two potential candidates on the Republican side — it’s called the Unity Party in the village.
There is former 16-year mayor James Garner, Long Island’s first black mayor, who has all but announced....
Sid Cassese
... his bid for the job he lost to Hall in 2005. “People know me,” he said. And there is former trustee and current village justice Lance Clarke, who is on the fence about a run. “I’m still considering it,” said Clarke, who is president of the Nassau County Bar Association.
Then there is Republican Trustee Don Ryan, who has not indicated that he will run at all, but who in 2006, trounced all four of his Democratic opponents for trustee, gaining more than their combined votes. In addition, the four are black and Hempstead is a predominantly black community. Ryan is white.