7. Edward Mangano

The former seven-term Nassau County Republican legislator from Bethpage beat the odds last December to make history, seizing the county’s top-elected spot from his well-funded Democratic opponent, two-term incumbent Tom Suozzi. It was a tough, hard-won battle—the result of a relentless grassroots campaign and month-long paper ballot recount. Mangano made good on some of his key campaign promises, repealing Suozzi’s Home Energy Tax and signing an executive order to begin reforming the county’s broken property tax assessment system—on Inauguration Day. Mangano has much more work cut out for him, however, namely, a ballooning budget gap estimated in the hundreds of millions.