EASTMEADOW, N.Y. – Former Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi has won a high-profile special election for the vacant House seat held by former Republican Rep. George Santos, who was ousted from the House in December. .
The Associated Press predicted Suozzi would defeat Republican county Rep. Maj Pilip and regain his old job.
As Republicans continue to hold a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, Republicans and Democrats across the country are spending millions on campaigns in the New York City suburbs, where immigration, border security, crime and abortion are the most important issues and where elections are held. is. He is seen as a bellwether ahead of what is almost certain to be a rematch between President Biden and former President Donald Trump for the White House in November.
The Long Island district, held by Democrats for a decade, was flipped by Santos in the 2022 midterm elections. However, less than a year after he took office, Mr. Santos was expelled from Congress after it was revealed that he had lied about his background and he was charged with numerous financial crimes.
Mr. Suozzi, who represented the district for six years before running unsuccessfully for governor, repeatedly linked Mr. Pilip to Mr. Santos and former President Donald Trump.
Snowstorm hits election day as candidates in key special House election decide
Former Congressman Tom Suozzi speaks at a campaign kickoff event on Sunday, February 11, 2024, in Plainview, New York.The battle to replace disgraced former Congressman George Santos is at stake in New York’s No. 3 Democratic House candidate Suozzi and Republican Maji Pilip are competing in the district. . (AP Photo/Mary Altafer) (AP Photo/Mary Altafer)
“No one knows what she really stands for. She’s George Santos 2.0. It’s just the same opaque, fake idiots trying to get votes without saying what they really think.” Suozzi charged on the eve of the election.
Suozzi, a former mayor and county executive, also claimed that Pilip, who is in his second term as a county councilman, is a “far-right extremist” who is “completely aligned with Mike Johnson and Donald Trump.” did.
New York special election candidates clash over border crisis, abortion: ‘You created this issue’
Pilip, an Ethiopian Jew who fled to Israel to escape persecution at the age of 12 and later served in the Israeli army before immigrating to the United States, linked Suozzi to President Biden and blamed him for the immigration crisis. blamed him.
“You know, he’s the one who opened the southern border. He voted for Biden 100% of the time. He supported the men 90% of the time and he’s the one who created the immigration crisis,” Phillippe said on Fox. insisted. Sunday news interview.
Republican Congressional candidate Maj Pilip holds a campaign event at Franklin Square in New York on the eve of the special US House of Representatives election on February 12, 2024 in NY-03. (FOX News – Deirdre Heavey)
Mr. Suozzi, a centrist and moderate Democrat, distanced himself from Mr. Biden and his party on immigration.
Republicans now hold a fragile 219-212 majority in the House of Representatives heading into the election, and growing Democratic support puts their control of the chamber even more at risk.
The contest could also provide clues about how key issues such as immigration and abortion will influence the November election.
“Tom Susie rolled out the red carpet for illegal immigrants,” claimed a recent television ad from the Congressional Leadership Fund, a major super PAC supporting House Republicans.
And a commercial from House Majority PAC, the top super PAC supporting House Democrats, charged that “Maji Pilip stands on an anti-abortion platform.”
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Pilip, a former Democrat who claims the party “left me and many others,” has focused his campaign on crime and immigration, as well as voters dissatisfied with far-left criticism of Islam. It also spotlighted Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7th in a bid to gain support for the group. Support for the Jewish State and the Palestinians.
But her support for Trump, admitting that she voted for him in 2020, was a potential concern for moderate voters who are not fans of the former president.
Meanwhile, Suozzi showed off his support for Israel and his visit to the country last year.
Republican Congressional candidate Maji Pilip speaks with reporters outside a polling place in Massapequa, New York, during a special legislative election in NY-03 during a snowstorm on February 13, 2024. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Suozzi, a campaign veteran, welcomed interactions with reporters, but Pilip’s public appearances were carefully controlled.
The district includes part of the outer borough of Queens, New York City, and is located in adjacent Nassau County. And this is the kind of suburban district that Democrats need to dominate in the 2024 elections as they seek to regain the House majority they lost in the 2022 midterm elections.
But while Democrats have performed well in suburban districts in recent cycles, Republicans have a history of topping New York’s Long Island. Biden won the 2020 presidential election by an eight-point margin in his current district, but Santos won the open House seat by the same margin in the 2022 election.
Former Democratic Congressman Tom Suozzi (center, waving) greets voters outside a polling place during the NY-03 Special Congressional Election on February 13, 2024 in Glen Cove, New York. (Fox News – Deirdre Heavy)
The final polls of the special election suggested Susie maintained a slim single-digit lead over Pilip.
Voter turnout was thought to be the key to the outcome of this election. Democrats appear to have a slight advantage in the nine-day early voting period that ended Sunday.
Then, as voting began Tuesday morning, a winter snowstorm hit the district.
Get the latest on the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more with Fox News Digital’s Election Hub.
