{"id":301184,"date":"2025-10-13T23:52:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T23:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/301184\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T23:52:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T23:52:10","slug":"a-candidate-for-local-office-in-new-york-disappeared-months-ago-he-could-still-win-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/301184\/","title":{"rendered":"A candidate for local office in New York disappeared months ago. He could still win | New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

A political candidate in the New York<\/a> City suburbs went for a night swim in the Atlantic Ocean this past spring and never returned.<\/p>\n

Petros Krommidas\u2019s phone, keys and clothes were found on the sands at Long Beach on Long Island. The 29-year-old former Ivy League rower, who was training for a triathlon, had parked his car just off the picturesque wooden boardwalk.<\/p>\n

As the months passed, local Democrats<\/a> attempted to field a replacement to run for the seat in the Nassau County legislature.<\/p>\n

But two Republican voters took them to court and won: a state judge recently ordered Krommidas\u2019s name to remain on the November ballot, ruling that he\u2019s still considered missing and not officially deceased.<\/p>\n

Now, as election day approaches, voters in Long Beach and other communities on the south shore of Long Island have a curious choice: re-elect the Republican incumbent or the Democrat who seemingly vanished at sea.<\/p>\n

James Hodge is among those calling on residents to cast their ballots for Krommidas regardless \u2013 hoping to trigger a special election in which Democrats can put forward another candidate to run against Republican lawmaker Patrick Mullaney.<\/p>\n

The Long Beach resident worked with Krommidas at the Nassau county board of elections and had been tapped by Democrats to run in his place.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to stand by and honor his name and memory,\u201d Hodge told the Associated Press. \u201cLet\u2019s give him that victory. It\u2019s the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Republican voters argued in their lawsuit that Democrats couldn\u2019t claim Krommidas was dead because authorities still considered him a missing person. They pointed to a New York state law that someone is presumed dead after being \u201cabsent for a continuous period of three years\u201d.<\/p>\n

A county judge, Gary Knobel, agreed, writing in his ruling last month that \u201c\u2018missing person\u2019 status does not qualify as a vacancy that can be filled\u201d.<\/p>\n

The judge noted a similar situation decades earlier in Alaska.<\/p>\n

Nicholas Begich Sr, a congressman, disappeared in a plane crash weeks before the 1972 election but still won. The Alaska Democrat was eventually declared dead, and his Republican opponent claimed the seat in a special election.<\/p>\n

In 2000, the Democratic governor of Missouri, Mel Carnahan, died in a plane crash while campaigning for a seat in the US Senate. Although Carnahan was trailing in the polls when he died, he made a political comeback after his death and narrowly defeated his Republican opponent, John Ashcroft. Carnahan\u2019s widow, Jean, was appointed to serve in the Senate until a special election in 2022, which she lost.<\/p>\n

More recently, Dennis Hof, owner of the Nevada brothel featured on HBO\u2019s Cathouse documentary series, died weeks before a 2018 election but still captured a seat in the state legislature.<\/p>\n

In 2020, North Dakota legislative candidate David Andahl died from Covid-19 the month before the election and still won. And in 2022, Pennsylvania state lawmaker Anthony DeLuca won reelection despite dying from lymphoma the month prior.<\/p>\n

Hodge and other Long Island Democrats argue that Republicans only sued to assure themselves victory as they seek to bolster their majority in the county legislature. They say the lawsuit has only prolonged the anguish for Krommidas\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand politics, but there\u2019s a time to stop and be a human being,\u201d said Ellen Lederer-DeFrancesco, who met Krommidas through the local Democratic Pparty. \u201cPetros is someone\u2019s son, brother, friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nassau county Republican committee chairperson, Joseph Cairo Jr, in a statement, vowed the party and its candidates will \u201cshow the highest level of sensitivity during these challenging times for the Krommidas family\u201d.<\/p>\n

Krommidas\u2019s family declined to comment when reached by phone, but his mother and sister both called for residents to \u201chonor and vote\u201d for him in recent Facebook posts.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy Peter cared deeply about people and his community and continues to inspire kindness and unity in our community,\u201d his mother, Maria, wrote.<\/p>\n

Eleni-Lemonia Krommidas, his sister, described him in her own post as a first-generation American who loved his country and \u201cbelieved in equality, education, and the power of unity\u201d.<\/p>\n

In the days after his disappearance, family and friends joined first responders in scouring Long Beach\u2019s broad swath of sand, which is located just east of the New York City borough of Queens.<\/p>\n

A missing person flyer for Petros Krommidas on a telephone pole in Long Beach, New York, on Thursday. Photograph: Phillip Marcelo\/AP<\/p>\n

Some of the missing person fliers they put up with images of Krommidas\u2019s youthful, smiling face are tattered and faded but still visible on telephone poles around Long Beach.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile campaign signs for Mullaney, his opponent, are prominently displayed on fences along the main thoroughfares and on tidy residential lawns. The Republican didn\u2019t respond to emails seeking comment.<\/p>\n

Along the Long Beach boardwalk last week, longtime resident Maude Carione was dumbstruck at the choice facing voters in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s insane to leave his name on the ballot. You\u2019ll confuse people,\u201d said the 72-year-old Trump supporter, who didn\u2019t have plans to vote in the upcoming local election. \u201cIn fairness, you have to give another candidate a chance for the Democrats. You have to.\u201d<\/p>\n

For resident Regina Pecorella, the decision, while grim, was clear. \u201cIf it\u2019s between those two, I\u2019m voting for the person that\u2019s alive,\u201d said the 54-year old independent, who voted for a straight Republican ticket in the previous election. \u201cI don\u2019t know how else to answer that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guardian staff contributed reporting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A political candidate in the New York City suburbs went for a night swim in the Atlantic Ocean…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":301185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-301184","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-newyork","12":"tag-newyorkcity","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115369551108572493","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}