Republican incumbent Ray Tierney is seeking another term as the county’s leading prosecutor. He will be running unopposed in the 2025 election this November.
As the district attorney for Suffolk County, Tierney is known in the community that he has been defending for nearly 30 years. He says his continuous leadership demonstrates his tenure in his career as well as Suffolk County’s trust in his commitment to justice.
For the first time in 20 years, the district attorney’s office elected a Republican when Tierney secured the position in 2021. He brought with him nearly 30 years of experience as a state and federal prosecutor when he entered office in January 2022.
Tierney said his focus on organized crime, violent crime, and public integrity has centered his career on results-driven law enforcement and accountability.
As a Suffolk County native, he began working as an assistant district attorney in 1992 under district attorney James Catterson. He worked on cases including homicide, sexual assault, arson and kidnappings early in his career.
He immediately established himself with his leadership and courtroom abilities, landing him the position of district court trial supervisor, where he managed younger prosecutors.
Tierney worked for seven years in the Suffolk D.A.’s office before briefly going into private practice to handle cases on Long Island and New York City courts. However, his dedication to public service quickly led to his return to prosecution. He rejoined the Suffolk D.A.’s Office in 2002 to work on difficult cases involving organized crime, child exploitation and political corruption.
After joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York in 2008, Tierney’s reputation for breaking up criminal networks expanded. As an assistant U.S. attorney there, he oversaw well-known cases, including money laundering and international drug operations.
He received national attention for his actions, including praise from the FBI’s Long Island Gang Task Force and several “Prosecutor of the Year” honors from the Federal Law Enforcement Association.
Tierney started transforming the office to address current problems as soon as he became the Suffolk County D.A., in 2022. He reestablished the Homicide Bureau as a standalone agency and created the county’s first Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau to address gang activities.
He also oversaw the Gilgo Beach serial homicide investigation, which resulted in one of the biggest discoveries in Suffolk County’s history. Together with the FBI, state police, Suffolk County Police Department and other organizations, Tierney established the Gilgo Serial Homicide Task Force at the beginning of 2022.
Tierney has placed a strong emphasis on preventive and community involvement in addition to criminal prosecution. To promote public safety education, he established the Community Outreach Bureau. Tierney’s belief that law enforcement should assist the public both within and outside of the courtroom is reflected in the bureau’s hosting of youth job fairs, elder fraud seminars and safety summits.
To ensure that lesser-known but no less significant crimes receive the attention they deserve, he also established specialized units, including the Biological, Environmental and Animal Safety Team (BEAST) and the HEAT unit (Hate Crimes, Elder Abuse, Anti-Bias/Immigrant Affairs and Human Trafficking).
Tierney earned his law degree from St. John’s University School of Law. There, he was the articles editor for the St. John’s International Law Review. He currently resides in Suffolk County with his family.
His priorities remain the same as seeks a new term without opposition. He promises to continue to uphold the integrity and fairness of criminal prosecutions while fostering a closer relationship between the community and law enforcement.
