Robert C. Pena

Pena said he “offers a fresh, young, educated and honest perspective that is needed to break the ‘business as usual’ mentality that impedes our local politics today.” Pena said he supported the idea of appointing a bipartisan-approved anti-corruption officer to oversee the Nassau county executive’s office. Pena said that he has developed a six-point reform platform, which he said includes “dealing with the opioid crisis through more comprehensive health care and prevention programs, developing the biomedical and biotech infrastructure on Long Island for job and economic growth, and fixing the broken property assessment system so that it will be more equitable for taxpayers.”

Pena, 24, of Garden City, is running on the Democratic, Working Families and Women’s Equality lines. Pena is a 2011 graduate of Chaminade High School, where he was a member of 13 extracurricular student clubs. He has a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences and a master’s of engineering degree in biomedical engineering, both from Cornell University. At Cornell, he performed public service work with the Cornell Catholic Community and the Cornell Premedical Society. Pena is currently a first-year medical student at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. He is an Eagle Scout and was active in the former Troop 56 in Garden City. Pena is not married.