Democrat Tom Suozzi wins New York special election, cutting into slim GOP House majority

EAST MEADOW, N.Y. — Democrat Tom Suozzi won New York’s special election Tuesday to replace former Rep. George Santos, diminishing Republicans’ hold on their narrow majority after lawmakers expelled Mr. Santos from Congress in December.

Mr. Suozzi, a former three-term lawmaker who previously represented the 3rd Congressional District, comfortably defeated Mazi Melesa Pilip, a Nassau County legislator, despite her efforts to use the immigration crisis as an issue.

“Despite all the lies about Tom Suozzi and the Squad, about Tom Suozzi being the godfather of the migrant crisis, about ’Sanctuary Suozzi,’ despite the dirty tricks, despite the vaunted Nassau County Republican machine: We won,” Mr. Suozzi said in his victory speech Tuesday evening.

With 85% of the vote counted, Mr. Suozzi led by 55% to 45% and Ms. Pilip had conceded the race.

She called Mr. Suozzi and congratulated him on his victory and thanked her supporters.

“I’m so proud of each and every one of you. Each one of you worked so hard and here’s another thing. In the last eight weeks, we did a great job,” she said. “We are fighters. Yes, we lost but it doesn’t mean it’s going to end here.”

Mr. Suozzi is well known throughout the district and, prior to his six years in Congress beginning in the 1990’s, served as mayor of Glen Cove. He was later elected Nassau County executive.

He left Congress in 2022 to launch a failed gubernatorial primary bid against Gov. Kathy Hochul. It was the second time he ran for governor.

The win by Mr. Suozzi moves Democrats closer to recapturing the House majority they lost in 2022. And it throws more sand into the House GOP leadership’s gears as Republicans attempt to move key legislation.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Suzan DelBene lauded Mr. Suozzi for his win.

“Today the voters of New York’s Third Congressional District chose experienced leadership over extremism. Tom Suozzi ran a formidable campaign that prioritized the issues that matter most to families across Queens and Nassau County: protecting reproductive freedom, bipartisan solutions to address border security, and lowering costs,” she said in a statement.

Since Mr. Santos’ unceremonious departure from Capitol Hill, the GOP has held a slim majority in the House, 219-212, with four vacancies.

Republicans hoped the illegal immigration issue would hurt Mr. Suozzi, and ran a video clip of him from the 2022 gubernatorial debate boasting about removing Immigration Customs Enforcement when he was County Executive.

Mr. Suozzi later said ICE had not been following its rules, and the police commissioner asked him to handle it. He also said when he was in the House in 2018, he was one of only 18 Democrats who voted to support ICE.

New York Republicans said that Tuesday’s loss does not make the border issue any less important. 

“If nothing else, we saw that Tom Suozzi shifted his campaign in the last two or three weeks. He spent  millions of dollars talking about the border. Finally, the Democrat Party is willing to acknowledge there is a border problem,” Rep. Nick LaLota said.

“One of its politicians is at least feigning an attempt to be part of the solution. I think that the border security issue, both parties identified it as a top issue in this campaign,” he said.

National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson called the campaign in the district an “uphill battle.” 

“Mazi Pilip is a fighter with a bright future within the Republican Party. This was an uphill battle. Joe Biden won this district by 8 points, Democrats outspent Republicans two-to-one, and our Democrat opponent spent decades representing these New Yorkers - yet it was still a dogfight,” he said. “Republicans still have multiple pathways to grow our majority in November.”

The election of Mr. Suozzi in the 3rd District, which covers Nassau County and northeastern Queens, closes the nearly one-year chronicle after the House Ethics Committee in December stated in its released report that there was “overwhelming evidence” Mr. Santos had broken the law numerous times and exploited his office for personal profit.

Mr. Santos now faces federal fraud and wire charges. Lawmakers from both parties in December voted 311-114 to expel Mr. Santos, making him the sixth lawmaker to ever be expelled from Congress.

Ms. Pilip is an Ethiopian born woman who served in the Israel Defense Forces before emigrating to the U.S. in 1991.

Democrats went after Ms. Pilip for the majority of the campaign for avoiding press questions about her stance on abortion, guns and whether or not she would support former President Donald Trump.

Additionally, Ms. Pilip was not a registered Republican when GOP bosses decided she would be their candidate.

Democrats greatly outraised and outspent Republicans this special election, an event that usually sees low turnout.

According to federal records, Ms. Pilip raised more than $1.3 million between Dec. 16 to Jan. 24, while Mr. Suozzi raised $4.5 million.

Spending on the short-term special election surpassed 2022’s general election total.

Media tracking service Ad Impact said Democrats have outspent Republicans on advertising in the district by a 6-to-1 ratio.