EAST MEADOW, N.Y – Former Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi has received a carefully watched particular election for a vacant Home seat as soon as held by former Republican Rep. George Santos, who was expelled from the chamber in December.
The Related Press projected that Suozzi would defeat Republican county lawmaker Mazi Pilip, to win again his outdated job.
With the GOP hanging on to a razor-thin majority within the Home, nationwide Republicans and Democrats poured large bucks right into a race in suburban New York Metropolis the place immigration and border security, crime, and abortion had been the highest points, and the place the election was seen as a bellwether forward of the all-but-certain November White Home rematch between President Biden and former President Donald Trump.
The Lengthy Island district held for a decade by Democrats was flipped by Santos within the 2022 midterms. However Santos was kicked out of Congress lower than a yr into his tenure, after he was uncovered for mendacity about his background and indicted for a slew of economic crimes.
Suozzi, who represented the district for six years earlier than operating unsuccessfully for governor, repeatedly tied Pilip to Santos, in addition to to former President Donald Trump.
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Former U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi speaks throughout a marketing campaign canvass kick off occasion, Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024, in Plainview N.Y. The race to interchange disgraced former Rep. George Santos pits Democrat congressional candidate Suozzi in opposition to Republican Mazi Pilip in New York’s third district. (AP Photograph/Mary Altaffer) (AP Photograph/Mary Altaffer)
“Who knows what she really stands for? She’s George Santos 2.0. It’s the exact same nontransparent, phony baloney, just trying to get votes instead of saying what you really think,” Suozzi charged on the eve of the election.
And Suozzi, a former mayor and county govt, argued that Pilip – who’s in her second time period as a county lawmaker – “is a far-right wing extremist” who’s “completely consistent with Mike Johnson and Donald Trump .”
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Pilip, an Ethiopian Jew who fled to Israel at age 12 to flee persecution and who later enlisted and served within the Israeli navy earlier than immigrating to america, linked Suozzi to President Biden and blamed him for the migrant disaster.
“You know, he is the one who opened the southern border. He voted with Biden 100% of the time. He supported squad members 90% of the time, he is the one who caused the migrant crisis,” Philip claimed in a Fox Information interview on Sunday.
Republican congressional candidate Mazi Pilip holds a marketing campaign occasion in Franklin Sq., New York, on Feb. 12, 2024, on the eve of a particular U.S. Home election in NY-03. (Fox Information – Deirdre Heavey)
Suozzi, a centrist and reasonable Democrat, saved his distance from Biden and his celebration when it got here to immigration.
With Republicans at the moment holding a fragile 219-212 majority in the House going into the election, the pickup by the Democrats now places the GOP’s grip on the chamber additional in peril.
The competition may provide clues to how prime points like immigration and abortion will affect November’s elections.
“Tom Souzzi rolled out the red carpet for illegal immigrants,” claimed a latest TV advert from the Congressional Management Fund, the primary tremendous PAC supporting Home Republicans.
And a industrial from the Home Majority PAC, the highest tremendous PAC backing Home Democrats, charged that “Mazi Pilip is running on a platform to ban abortion.”
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Apart from campaigning closely on crime and immigration, Pilip – a former Democrat who argues the celebration “left me and many others” – additionally spotlighted the Oct. 7 Hamas assault on Israel as she goals to win voters sad with the far-left’s criticism of the Jewish State and assist for the Palestinians.
However her assist of Trump – who she has acknowledged she voted for in 2020 – was probably a priority with reasonable voters who should not followers of the previous president.
In the meantime, Suozzi showcased his assist for Israel and a visit he made to the nation final yr.
Republican congressional candidate Mazi Pilip speaks with reporters outdoors a polling location in Massapequa, New York, on Feb. 13, 2024, amid a snowstorm throughout a particular Congressional election in NY-03. (Fox Information – Paul Steinhauser)
Whereas Suozzi, a marketing campaign veteran, welcomed his interactions with reporters, Pilip’s public appearances had been rigorously managed.
The district, which features a sliver of the outer portion of the New York Metropolis borough of Queens, is anchored in neighboring Nassau County. And it is the type of suburban district the place Democrats have to dominate within the 2024 elections as they purpose to reclaim the Home majority they misplaced within the 2022 midterms.
However whereas Democrats have carried out nicely in suburban districts in latest cycles, Republicans have a historical past of popping out on prime on New York’s Lengthy Island. Whereas Biden carried the present confines of the district by eight factors in his 2020 presidential election victory, Santos received the 2022 election for the open Home seat by the identical margin.
Former Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi (middle, waving) greets voters outdoors of a polling location on Feb. 13, 2024 in Glen Cove, New York, in a particular congressional election in NY-03. (Fox Information – Deidre Heavey)
The ultimate public opinion polls within the particular election instructed that Souzzi was clinging to a slight single-digit edge over Pilip.
Turnout was thought-about key within the end result of this election. Democrats appeared to get pleasure from a slight edge within the nine-day early voting interval, which ended on Sunday.
And a winter snowstorm walloped the District on Tuesday morning, as polls opened.
