Tom Gorman, a Yorktown resident whose 18-year-old daughter, Sheridan, was killed in Chicago earlier this year, endorsed Republican Sergio Esposito for state Senate Wednesday, citing public safety and immigration policy.
Although Sheridan’s death occurred in Chicago, Gorman said the family’s experience has led them to speak out against sanctuary policies, which he said should be reconsidered in New York.
“Our current state senator, Pete Harckham, voted for this extreme agenda,” Tom Gorman said. “He chose radical sanctuary ideology over basic safety for our families.”
Gorman and his wife, Jessica, stood alongside Esposito, a Yorktown councilman and deputy supervisor, Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt and Yorktown Supervisor Ed Lachterman at a campaign event focused on state immigration policies and cooperation between local law enforcement and federal authorities. They were also joined by other local officials.
Ortt represents District 62, which covers Niagara and Orleans counties and parts of Monroe County. He and Lachterman are both running for reelection to their respective posts.
Esposito is an information technology vendor for Halston Media, the parent company of this newspaper.
Sheridan Gorman was a freshman at Loyola University Chicago when she was shot and killed March 19. Jose Medina, who officials say is from Venezuela, has been charged in connection with her death.
The Department of Homeland Security says Medina entered the U.S. illegally in 2023. Previous reporting showed an arrest warrant was issued for him that year after he stopped appearing in court on shoplifting charges.
Harckham, a Democrat, is the incumbent representing the 40th Senate District and is facing Esposito in the Nov. 3 election.
Tom Gorman said he supports Esposito because of the Yorktown councilman’s positions on law enforcement and public safety.
“That is why I am standing here today to endorse Sergio Esposito for New York State Senate,” he said outside Yorktown’s Railroad Park Wednesday afternoon.
He also criticized policies that he said restrict cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.
“It frustrates us as a mother and father who've lost our daughter, seeing that policy doubled down on,” he said. “The most logical, common sense, second chance of vetting is when someone who is here illegally commits a second crime, that they are turned over to federal law enforcement. Why that is a controversial position, we cannot fathom,” he said.
Esposito said the Gormans' experience illustrates what he described as the consequences of state criminal justice and immigration policies.
“No parent wants to endure what they have to go through,” Esposito said. “It’s not over for them.”
Esposito and the other Republican leaders criticized Harckham and Gov. Kathy Hochul for what they described as silence.
“No parent should ever have to endure the pain of losing a child, or stand at a podium, demanding justice for their child. We stand beside you, we grieve with you, and we will continue to fight for Sheridan. Her life mattered. Her future matters. And we cannot accept policies that put criminals ahead of the safety of our families and communities. Protecting innocent lives must always come first.”
But Harckham told Halston Media that he believes Esposito, his opponent, does not understand the law.
“Nothing in the law precludes local police from assisting ICE in criminal matters. No one wants dangerous criminals on the streets, be they U.S.- born or immigrants. The law simply disallows local authorities from participating in civil immigration actions. Our local police departments have worked hard to build bridges to the immigrant communities,” Harckham said. “To engage in civil immigration action would break that trust, causing members of the immigrant communities to not come forward to report crimes and domestic abuse, which makes our communities less safe.
Harckham said the three counties he represents “are among the ten safest in the country. I have steered over $12 million in discretionary funding to our local first responders. My opponent’s targeting immigrants with his fear mongering is both disgusting and unmerited by the facts.”
Lachterman, who has previously criticized sanctuary policies, recalled a 2018 effort by him and the late Tom Diana, a fellow Republican Town Board member, to pass a resolution opposing them.
“I look back and I think that I failed my friends. I failed my community,” Lachterman said. “Should we have pushed harder? Would it have made a difference? I don't know.”
Ortt criticized Hochul and Harckham over their positions on immigration enforcement and local cooperation with federal authorities.
“Elected officials, and the system — both federally, under President Biden, and today here in New York — have failed Sheridan, failed her family,” Ortt said, as he criticized Hochul and New York’s Local Cops, Local Crimes Act.
The Gormans said they hope that speaking publicly about their daughter’s death will help prevent other families from experiencing a similar loss.
“This shouldn't be a partisan issue. It shocked the heck out of us than it was,” Jessica Gorman told Yorktown News, adding that her family “can't believe that public safety is not a priority of every person. It's supposed to be.”
Jessica Gorman has known Esposito since their children were young. One of Esposito’s sons and Sheridan were in the same graduating class at Yorktown High School.
“He is a champion for all. One thing I've always known about Sergio is [that] he listens,” Jessica Gorman said. “Frankly, whether you're a politician or a father... anyone... the ability to listen with empathy and intelligence is something he possesses.”
In the six months since her daughter was murdered, Jessica Gorman said she has “dealt with a lot of politicians and seeing the consequences of these policies, I don't think many of them do... they don't have a conscience. They are not able to intelligently consider what these things mean.”
In the six months since her daughter was murdered, Jessica Gorman said she has “dealt with a lot of politicians and seen the consequences of these policies. I don't think many of them do... they don't have a conscience. They are not able to intelligently consider what these things mean.”
But Esposito is someone who she said she’s known “to have integrity, to be honest, to be kind, enthusiastic. He is compassionate.” She said she believes he would bring those qualities to the state Senate.
“I think we'd be very lucky,” she said. “I feel like he has perfect intentions, and that's what I think we need in our politicians. I think anyone willing to listen and try to understand both sides of any conversation. That's the most important thing, and I know him to be a good listener, and that, for me, is enough.”
New York’s 40th Senate District includes the towns of Carmel, Kent, Patterson and Southeast and the village of Brewster in Putnam County; the town of Stony Point in Rockland County; and the city of Peekskill; the towns of Bedford, Cortlandt, Lewisboro, New Castle, North Salem, Somers and Yorktown; the town and village of Mount Kisco; the town of Ossining; and the villages of Briarcliff Manor, Buchanan and Croton-on-Hudson in Westchester County.
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