Conte Retains 10th Assembly District Seat

Incumbent , R-Huntington Station, easily defeated Farmingdale school board member John Capobianco Tuesday for the seat. With 93 out of 94 election districts reporting at 2:57 a.m., 28,582 votes cast out of 69,398, Conte led 62.23 percent to 37.77.

Newcomer Capobianco, who is also the resident artist at Suburban Bonsai in Dix Hills, as well as a martial artist and a tennis instructor, tried unsuccessfully to unseat the long-time incumbent.

Conte, speaking from GOP headquarters at the Sheraton in Hauppauge, didn't seem surprised at his victory. "We had no scandals and we're getting the job done," he said about the Republicans, who held on to most of their seats last night in Suffolk County.

Assemb. Andrew Raia, R-East Northport, kept his seat in the neighboring Ninth District.

Capobianco was disappointed but admitted that he still had a lot of work to do to help trim the Farmingdale School District's budget. "If I was up in Albany, I don't know how I'd be able to do that." And as a lifelong Farmingdale resident, the school district is very important to him.

Conte began his governmental career as an intern to Senator James Lack and then worked for Senator Martin Knorr and Assemblywoman Toni Rettaliata. He was first elected to the Assembly in a special election on March 15, 1988.

Conte, a lifelong Huntington Station resident, still lives in there with his wife, Debra, a pharmacist,  and his children Sarah Ashley, Jeffrey James and Samantha Irene.