Background: McDonaugh, 49, of Lindenhurst, is running on the Democratic, Republican, Conservative and Independence party lines in the general election. He is an elected District Court judge and a Suffolk Acting County Court judge. Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone appointed McDonaugh to the District Court bench in February 2012 and the following November he was elected to a full-term. From 2001 to 2012, McDonaugh primarily handled negligence, criminal defense and commercial litigation cases for a law firm in Lindenhurst. McDonaugh served as Associate Village Justice for the village of Lindenhurst from 2009 to 2012. McDonaugh spent six years in the Office of the Suffolk County District Attorney where he began his legal career in 1995 as an assistant district attorney. He graduated with a bachelor of science degree from the State University at Oneonta in 1991. He earned his law degree from the University of Memphis in 1994. He was admitted to the bar in 1995. McDonaugh is a member of the Suffolk County Bar Association and The Brehon Law Society of Suffolk County.

Background: Robinson, 67, of Amityville, is also running on the Democratic, Republican, Conservative, Working Families, Independence and Women's Equality party lines in the general election. He is a Suffolk County District Court judge and an acting Suffolk County Court judge. He is seeking re-election to a second term. Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone appointed Robinson to the District Court bench in February 2012, and the following November he was elected to a full-term. In 2008, he was appointed by then-Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo as the assistant attorney general in the Office of the New York State Attorney General. He was chief deputy town attorney for the Town of Brookhaven and a senior associate at Devitt Spellman Barrett in Smithtown. He spent 25 years as the principal assistant county attorney in the Suffolk County district attorney's office, general litigation bureau. Robinson graduated from Howard University in 1974 and earned his law degree from Antioch School of Law in 1978. He was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1984. He is a member of the New York State Bar Association and first vice president of the Suffolk County Bar Association. He is the founding president of the Amistad Long Island Black Bar Association.