In the closer of the two races for Nassau Congressional districts, Peter King, of Seaford, won the right to represent the Republican party in the November 4 election for the 3rd District.

On Sept. 15, King ran against Robert Previdi, for the third time in a congressional primary. Previdi, a political author from Manhasset, also ran, unsuccessfully, against King in '92 and '94.

King is currently serving his third term in Congress. He has a record of receiving a higher number of votes than other congressional candidates in Nassau County. While in this primary Gregory Becker, from the 4th Congressional District, garnered more votes than King did in the 3rd, King still managed to beat Previdi by almost a 4-1 margin. According to the Nassau County Board of Elections, King had 6,726 votes to Previdi's 1,867 votes.

In response to the primary results King said, "I feel great. Anytime you win 4-1, you have to feel good." When asked if he thought he would do as well in the November election against Democrat Kevin Langberg, of Plainview, King said that he expected to win but not by such a large margin. He added, "I feel confident about the November election but I'm not taking anything for granted. I will work hard, and I expect to win."

According to King the strongest part of his campaign has been that people respect the fact that they always know where he stands and know that he will always fight for middle income families. Some of the issues that King has taken a strong stance on include making English the official language of the United States and eliminating, what he calls, the marriage penalty tax, which is a tax for married couples. He said that these are two of his main concerns. His goal is to be the spokesman for middle income, working families on both tax and social issues. He feels that social issues such as making English the official language are important because he believes "that working families realize the importance of working your way into the American mainstream and bilingual programs are dividing communities against each other." Another social issue that is a concern of King's is the introduction of drugs into the country. King believes that more has to be done to stop them from entering the United States.

King is also concerned with rebuilding the South Shore beaches. He said that he has gotten approval of a federal program to rebuild all the beaches on Long Beach Island and the South Shore.

Another Long Island issue that concerns King is the number of breast cancer cases in the area. He said that it is very important for Long Island that their leaders continue to get funding and continue research to find a cure for breast cancer. In 1993 King won funds for the first ever breast cancer study on Long Island. Since then he has made sure that those funds are renewed annually. If re-elected, King plans to continue doing everything he can to acquire the funding needed for this research.

King's vision for the district is that, "Going into the 21st century, there will be education and work opportunities available for everyone who is willing to work hard enough to get them."

Previdi, who does not plan on running on any other party line said that he thinks, "it is a sad day for our country." He believes that King does not have anything to say on any of the issues and that he has not done enough for cancer research. Previdi, who has many family members who are victims of various types of cancer, believes that all types of cancer, not just breast cancer, need to be researched throughout the nation. Previdi is also concerned with the fact that it has been reported by several news organizations that there were no Republican primaries. He said, "The people are being duped" and that this would be a blind election.

King said that in the coming months, prior to the Nov. 3 election, he will be working as hard as he can and going to as many parts of the district as he can to let people know where he stands.