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Democrat Suozzi Wins Back NY House Seat Vacated by Santos
(Bloomberg) -- Democrat Tom Suozzi won the race to succeed ousted New York congressman George Santos, retaking a seat he previously held and narrowing the GOP’s razor-thin majority in the US House of Representatives.
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Suozzi’s victory over Republican Mazi Pilip in the Queens and Long Island swing district offers a template for Democrats to successfully fend of GOP attacks over the border, after he seized on Republican lawmakers’ rejection of a bipartisan immigration bill. Suozzi, who held the seat for three terms until last year, led Pilip 53.9% to 46.1% with 93% of the votes counted, according to the Associated Press.
“We — you — won this race because we addressed the issues and we found a way to bind our divisions,” Suozzi told a jubilant crowd in his victory speech. “You want to take the country back from the people who want to divide it?” he asked. A protester tried unsuccessfully to mount the stage as he began to speak, and other protesters briefly interrupted him before being led away.
The race, which attracted significant national interest, was seen as a possible bellwether of November’s presidential and congressional elections. It quickly became a referendum on immigration, Israel and abortion, and both sides lashed out at one another in ubiquitous ad campaigns and in a fiery debate.
“We are fighters. Yes, we lost, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to end here.” Pilip said in her concession speech. “We’re going to bring back common sense government, I promise you,” she added.
The election took place during a major snowstorm in the New York metropolitan area, which led to concerns about turnout from both parties.
“Well, let me say, this morning, I was very concerned because of the weather,” said Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican. “The fact that it was snowing all morning very much slowed voter turnout. But it began gaining momentum throughout the day.”
Suozzi, 61, withstood attacks by the 44-year-old Pilip over immigration and the Biden administration’s border policies. Many residents commute into New York City, where more than 170,000 migrants have arrived since April 2022, straining resources and prompting concern about crime. A mid-January Emerson poll showed a plurality of voters in the district, 26%, ranked immigration as their top concern.
Suozzi also out-raised Pilip by 3 to 1, and his campaign and surrogates spent more than $13 million in the eight-week campaign, compared with roughly $6.2 million in spending from Pilip’s campaign and political action committees supporting her.
“Suozzi dealing with the border security issue head-on was effective,” said Erin Covey, an analyst with the Cook Political Report. Covey also pointed out that Democrats outspending Republicans 2-1 was a major factor in the victory, and that Suozzi already had his own brand that differentiated him from the national Democratic Party.
The special election occurred on the same day that the House impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, as Republicans escalate attacks on the administration’s border enforcement record.
Read More: Wealthiest NYC Suburb Splits Over What’s Next After Santos Mess
Pilip, who was polling neck-and-neck with Suozzi, tried to capitalize on her background.
The Ethiopian-born Orthodox Jewish mother of seven was airlifted to Israel as a child in 1991 as part of Operation Solomon. She went on to serve in the Israel Defense Forces before immigrating to the US in 2005, eventually settling in Great Neck with her Ukrainian-American husband.
Read More: Santos Expelled From Congress After Tumultuous Year of Lies
Voters in the district, which also includes part of the New York City borough of Queens, handed Joe Biden an 8-point victory in 2020 and have chosen the Democratic nominee for president in every election, save the 2004 contest, over the past 30 years. Yet its leadership at every other level of government routinely changed hands between Republican and Democratic control.
Since 2020, however, Republicans have won a string of victories in the area, thanks to a disciplined and effective county party organization that’s proved adept at turning out votes. Not counting the seat Suozzi just won, the GOP now controls virtually every elected office in Nassau County.
Suozzi previously represented the 3rd district from 2017 to 2023 before mounting an unsuccessful campaign for New York governor in 2022, which allowed Santos to win his vacated seat.
Biden and First Lady Jill Biden called Suozzi to congratulate him, the White House said, as the Biden-Harris campaign tried to tie Republican front-runner Donald Trump to the Republican loss.
Read More: House Republicans Prevail on Second Try Impeaching Mayorkas
“Donald Trump lost again tonight. When Republicans run on Trump’s extreme agenda – even in a Republican-held seat – voters reject them. As we saw in 2020, 2022, 2023, and now tonight, when it comes down to the choice between Donald Trump’s chaos and division and President Biden who wakes up everyday working to get things done,” the campaign said in a statement.
Trump, on his Truth Social platform, blamed Pilip for her defeat, saying “she didn’t endorse me and tried to ‘straddle the fence,’ when she would have easily WON if she understood anything about MODERN DAY politics in America.”
The GOP currently has a 219-212 majority in the House.
--With assistance from Hadriana Lowenkron.
(Updates to include bipartisan immigration bill in second paragraph.)
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