Charlene J. Thompson

Thompson wants to help more small businesses in her district, which has a higher rate of unemployment than other parts of the county, get certified to compete for county and state contracts. She also wants to renovate unused buildings in downtown Uniondale and convert them to businesses that can feed the Nassau Hub renovation, where the Nassau Coliseum has undergone a $165 million renovation and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is building a $140 million outpatient treatment and research facility. “My concern is that the revitalization does not stop at Hempstead Turnpike,” Thompson said. “It must flow to the rest of Uniondale.” Thompson also wants to work with the Nassau County Land Trust to purchase and renovate abandoned “zombie” homes in the district and convert them to affordable housing. “This would get the homes back on the tax rolls and create affordable housing for young families and seniors,” she said.

Thompson, 51, of Baldwin, is running on the Republican and Conservative party lines. She is making her first run for elected office. She received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the College of William and Mary and a law degree from the Howard University School of Law. Thompson previously served as the program director of the Youth Civic Education Campaign for the New York Public Interest Research Group and was part of the team to successfully lobby in Albany and Washington, D.C., for passage of the Motor Voter Bill. In 1991, she was appointed to the New York State Voting Rights Commission. She currently serves as of-counsel at the law firm of Comrie & Coward in Freeport. Thompson is divorced, with three children