Metro

Olympic skater Sarah Hughes to run for NY House seat in Long Island

By
Social Links for Carl Campanile
Published May 16, 2023
Updated May 16, 2023, 1:53 p.m. ET

Now she’s competing for political gold.

Olympic gold medal figure skater Sarah Hughes has filed papers to run for a House seat in Long Island’s 4th Congressional District.

Hughes, a lawyer who had worked at Proskauer Rose and was a 2002 skating champ, would face off against first-term Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito in Nassau County’s South Shore.

President Biden carried the district by nearly 15 points over Republican former President Donald Trump in 2020.

Democrats believe they have a good shot at a pick-up.

Hughes, 38, was raised in Great Neck, which is in the 3rd Congressional District represented by indicted serial liar Rep. George Santos.

But Hughes will have to compete for the Democratic Party nomination in a primary.

Former Hempstead Town Supervisor Laura Gillen, who lost to D’Esposito last year, announced that she’s running again.

Jay Jacobs, the Nassau County Democratic leader and state party chairman, said Hughes “would be a very strong candidate.”

Sarah Hughes.
Sarah Hughes has filed papers to run for a House seat in Long Island’s 4th Congressional District. Sarah Hughes/Instagram
Sarah Hughes competes in the women's free skating program at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Sarah Hughes competes in the women’s free skating program at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. AP
Sarah Hughes of the United States kisses the gold medal she won in the women's figure skating competition at the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games.
Hughes kisses the gold medal she won in the women’s figure skating competition at the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games. REUTERS

Democratic consultant Eric Koch said “Democrats are going to take back this seat” by tying D’Esposito to GOP extremists in the House of Representatives. 

But another Democratic strategist sniped, “Sarah Hughes won a gold medal but she has to explain to voters why she should skate into the district where she has never lived.”

The skater has bipartisan ties. Hughes formerly dated Republican Andrew Giuliani, who ran in the GOP primary for governor last year and is the son of GOP former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Sasha Cohen, Donald Trump and Sarah Hughes Skating with the Stars, Under the Stars benefit gala honoring Dorothy Hamill, New York, America - 31 Mar 2008.
Sasha Cohen, Donald Trump and Sarah Hughes attend a benefit gala honoring Dorothy Hamill in New York on March 31, 2008. Paul Hawthorne/Starpix/Shutterstock
Sarah Hughes and Douglas Emhoff May 6, 2022.
Sarah Hughes and Douglas Emhoff at the White House on May 6, 2022. Sarah Hughes/Instagram
Sarah Hughes and Chuck Schumer June 24, 2022.
Sarah Hughes and Chuck Schumer on June 24, 2022. Sarah Hughes/Instagram

Andrew Giuliani said he and Hughes remain friendly.

“Sarah is a great person. Despite the political difference we have, her heart is in the right place and she cares about New York,” Giuliani told The Post Tuesday.

Esposito, a retired New York City police officer, won the seat in last November’s midterm elections, part of a Republican sweep in key battleground House races, with gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin at the top of a ticket.

The GOP ticket ran a disciplined law-and-order campaign, painting their Democratic opponents as soft on crime, citing New York’s unpopular cashless bail law.