![]() ![]() Pilip also ran a remarkably low-key race, holding only a handful of public events while handing over the keys to her campaign to local Republican leaders. She told voters they would just have to trust her ability to deliver on high-stakes issues, like the SALT deduction. Pilip, whose only prior role was as a part-time county legislator, floundered through the only debate, giving tangled answers on abortion rights and gun safety. A 44-year-old Black immigrant and Israeli military veteran, she offered voters another attractive quality in politics: a fresh face free of political baggage.īut her inexperience showed. Republican took a gamble when they chose Pilip. His win was bigger than expected, with Suozzi winning by 8 points, and drastically outperforming his party’s performance with independents compared to 2022.Īnd Inexperience May Have Cost Republicans He deftly targeted smaller immigrant communities, and knew when to stick with his party and when to distance himself. Republicans mined Suozzi’s record to produce a series of damaging ads that portrayed him as weak on immigration and border security.īut in a truncated race, Suozzi made up for them with a deep knowledge of policy, as well as an understanding of Long Island’s unique breed of socially liberal, tax-hating moderates. “People are sick and tired of the extremism and the finger-pointing,” he said repeatedly. With wars raging overseas and Americans groping for normalcy as the COVID pandemic recedes, he cast himself as a tested lawmaker ready to step in and work across the aisle on immigration and on one of the suburban district’s top priorities: repealing the cap on the state and local tax deduction, or SALT. Suozzi, 61, has spent nearly three decades in public office. They are two of the most pejorative words in an election campaign: “career politician.” But they may have helped put Suozzi over the top. It will also affect their bargaining leverage in negotiations to try to avert a government shutdown in March. The difference could significantly trim the sails of Republicans’ election-year ambitions, including the potential impeachment of Biden. That means Republican leaders can afford to lose only two votes on any partisan bill. ![]() When Suozzi takes the oath of office in the coming weeks, Republicans will outnumber Democrats in the House 219-213. Speaker Mike Johnson was already struggling to steer his unwieldy majority in Washington. The Republican House Majority Just Got Narrower “These are the issues people care about.” “People want to say immigration is a Republican issue, abortion is a Democratic issue,” he said. When his opponent, Mazi Pilip, condemned a bipartisan Senate deal that included stiff border security provisions that conservatives had demanded, Suozzi went on the attack, accusing her of putting partisanship over national security. He called for Biden to close the border and went on local news to call for the deportation of a group of migrant men charged with assaulting police officers in Times Square. Rather than shrink from the issue, though, Suozzi made the migrant crisis a centerpiece of his campaign. Illegal border crossings reached an all-time high in December, and the arrival of more than 170,000 migrants in New York City has brought the sense of chaos close to home. The issue had all the makings of a political storm. Suozzi may have just helped write a playbook for how to do it, especially in a handful of crucial House contests around New York. Here are seven takeaways from the results.ĭemocrats have struggled for years to mount a defense against Republican attacks when it comes to immigration and illegal crossings at the southern border. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times The outcome will narrow Republicans’ paper-thin House majority, but that party also emerged with reasons for confidence as they prepare for fall races in districts where President Joe Biden is unpopular. The candidates were competing to replace George Santos, a serial fabulist who made the district a national laughingstock, and an Election Day snowstorm gave Suozzi an 11th-hour boost. Tom Suozzi’s victory in a special House election in New York on Tuesday gave Democrats a badly needed dose of election-year optimism and a model for how to navigate one of their biggest political liabilities: the migrant influx overwhelming the southern border.Ībortion was once again at the forefront, too, but the race for the Queens and Long Island swing seat also turned on hard-to-replicate local issues. Mazi Pilip, the Nassau County Legislator and a Republican candidate for Congress, speaks with reporters on election day for the House special election, in Massapequa Park, N.Y. ![]()
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