Person Of The Year 2017: Chad Lupinacci

Assemblyman Chad Lupinacci meeting with Governor Andrew Cuomo in January 2015 at the start of his second term in the state assembly.

Chad Lupinacci, first row third from left, at a family gathering in 2012.

 Chad Lupinacci speaks on the Assembly floor.

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

In July 2012 Chad Lupinacci was happy with the way his life was going. He was an eight-year member of the South Huntington School Board, a full-time business law teacher at Farmingdale State College and a practicing lawyer.

But Lupinacci isn’t one to stay content with the status quo.

One day he got a call from one of his mentors, then-state Assemblyman Jim Conte, along with Sen. John Flanagan, two heavy hitters in the Republican Party.

The pair informed Lupinacci of an opportunity. Following his 2011 cancer diagnosis, Conte would be focusing on his treatment instead of seeking reelection to the post he held for nearly 24 years.

Lupinacci was a bit conflicted; he liked his current state of affairs, but also knew the opportunity was a major one.

He walked into his law class that night and asked his 18 students for their opinions.

In his signature style, Lupinacci sat back and listened. One after another, the students spoke their mind and came to a unanimous agreement: do it.

That night he filed affidavits and four months later he was elected with 55 percent of the vote to the state’s 10th Assembly District.

“It was a real honor; I was able to learn a lot in that position, hearing from constituents and giving back to the community,” Lupinacci said. 

Lupinacci similarly took a risk in 2017. He sought to become the Town of Huntington’s first Republican supervisor since 2002, when longtime Supervisor Frank Petrone jumped party lines. For Lupinacci, the risk again paid off. After winning the November election, he was sworn into office on Tuesday.

For this accomplishment, and several others, Lupinacci has been named Long Islander News’ Person of the Year for 2017. 

Lupinacci, 38, is a lifelong Huntington resident; he grew up on 11th Avenue in Huntington Station in the same home his parents Sal and Susan live today.

The Lupinacci family’s Italian roots are deep in the Huntington area. His paternal grandparents emigrated from Italy in 1950, settling on Henry Street in Huntington, and his mother’s family on his owned a butcher shop in Huntington Station.

Lupinacci attended South Huntington School district schools from kindergarten through graduation; he received his diploma from Walt Whitman High School in 1997. 

“It is, and continues to be, a great place to raise a family,” Lupinacci said. “It’s a vibrant community, with people from all different backgrounds and occupations living together, learning together and caring about one another.”

He laughed as he recalled where he first picked up an interest in government: the family dinner table. During a typical holiday celebration, between dinner and dessert, wine glasses would fly and tempers would flare as Lupinacci listened. The ruckus was a sign of spirited debates between his two grandfathers, one a “union Democrat” and the other a “small business Republican.”

Susan said Lupinacci “used to walk around the house talking about being the president at 5 years old.”

He took the interest with him to college, earning a bachelor’s degree in political science from Hofstra University. He also later earned a law degree and MBA from the university. 

The three-time grad never really left the university; “I started teaching political science there right out of law school,” he said. 

His time at the university also helped him make connections in the political world.

While still a student, he worked two internships: one was with Conte, and another at the White House with then-First Lady Hillary Clinton. 

As an intern in Conte’s office, which later would become his own, Lupinacci said he gained valuable experience under then-Chief of Staff Jen Pratico.

Pratico described Lupinacci as “incredibly hard working” and someone who is “always giving back to the community.”

She continued, “I’ve known him since he was 19 years old and it’s been really great to see how he’s progressed from an intern to town supervisor.”

His first election came in 2004, when he was a 24-year-old seeking election to the South Huntington school board, but he didn’t embark on the quest for political reasons.

Lupinacci wanted to help address issues in the education system, especially those pertaining to K-12 policy.  

During his tenure on the school board, Lupinacci said, graduation rates increased to 99 percent, and both academic and extracurricular programs increased. “We made sure that the learning environment helped and represented every student,” he said.   

Lupinacci’s passion is not reserved for education policy; he also has a passion for teaching.

“If I didn’t go into public office I probably would have continued teaching full time at Farmingdale and part-time at Hofstra, with a little law work on the side,” said Lupinacci, who taught three classes this semester, one class on state and local government, a second in American government and a third about business, government and society.

Now a seasoned legislator, Lupinacci typically discusses his first-hand experiences with his political science students. 

“We always have good interactions and good conversations in the classroom,” he said. “They’re always very interactive and lively.”

After eight years on the South Huntington school board, Lupinacci got the call to run for Conte’s state assembly seat, which spans from Lloyd Harbor in the north to Dix Hills and Melville in the south.

Not forgetting his roots even after he was elected, Lupinacci would often seek out Conte’s advice. “Even when Jim couldn’t talk, he’d still visit and talk to him,” Pratico said.

He also used his background in education and with the school board to become a ranking member of the state Assembly’s higher education committee.

Some of his proudest accomplishments as an assemblyman include “increasing state aid to our school districts on Long Island, reforming the common core over the past several years and starting legislation to combat the heroin and opioid crisis.”

In the assembly Lupinacci also had the privilege of helping to interview the Board of Regents who responsible for the general supervision of all educational activities within the State.

“Over the last couple of years we made sure that the people serving on the Board of Regents weren’t political hacks, but actually people who had real world teaching or administrative experience,” Lupinacci said. 

After his 5 years in the state assembly, and with the town supervisor position opening up, Lupinacci said he was ready this year to take what he sees as the next step in his career. He defeated current Councilwoman Tracey Edwards and independent candidate Michael Raspantini in November, and has been gearing up for the transition ever since.

That transition from state to local government has been somewhat unorthodox, he said. Huntington contains 220,000 people, and has a range of complex issues.

“It’s bigger than Savannah, Georgia. In most places we call that a city,” said Lupinacci, who made that point to Ohio Gov. John Kasich over breakfast in October, when he was seeking the former Republican presidential candidate’s endorsement.

Lupinacci made an effort to connect with as many of Huntington’s people as he could during his campaign. He prides himself on pounding the pavement to knock on the doors of around 10,000 homes this year. 

“It was really great to walk the streets, to meet the people and see what their concerns are,” he said.

As he’s learned during his time in Albany, Lupinacci said, he knows he will not always agree with his colleagues on the town board, which sports two Republicans, two Democrats and an Independence Party member.

But, he added, in the end the group must come together to “be there for the community.”

Pratico, who helped him transition into his assembly position back in 2012, said Lupinacci’s “calming presence” and thoughtful, collected style of compromise make him well suited for his latest transition.

His father, Sal, agrees. “He’s walking into a lot of challenges, but he’ll give everything he has to the town supervisor’s position, just like he did with the state assembly.”

Last week, as Lupinacci looked forward to the town inauguration ceremony, which was slated for Tuesday, after deadline, he was excited.

Lupinacci is taking over as the town’s first new supervisor since 1993, when he was a middle schooler volunteering on then-candidate Petrone’s first campaign.

He said, “If you asked me in seventh or eighth grade if I thought I would be the next supervisor following Frank Petrone, I would have said, ‘Yeah, right.’” 

While that middle schooler may have been surprised, Lupinacci’s parents are not. They’ve been by his side through each new phase of his life, and both said their son is ready.

He “always stays on the right path and sticks to what he believes in,” his mother said.

Lupinacci, Huntington’s always humble, “gentle giant,” said, “Just to have the opportunity to give back to a community that has given me so much has been an honor and a privilege.”