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GARDEN CITY, NY – The polls have closed in New York’s third Congressional District in a particular election for a vacant Home of Representatives seat as soon as held by former Republican Rep. George Santos, who was expelled from the Home in December .
With the Republican Celebration clinging to a razor-thin majority within the Home of Representatives, nationwide Republicans and Democrats have poured large cash right into a race within the New York Metropolis suburbs, the place immigration and border safety, crime and abortion are high points, and the place the election have fun excessive. seen as a bellwether for November’s all-but-certain White Home rematch between President Biden and former President Donald Trump.
The Lengthy Island district held by Democrats for a decade was flipped by Santos within the 2022 midterm elections. However Santos was expelled from Congress lower than a yr into his time period, after he was uncovered for mendacity about his background and indicted for a slew of economic crimes.
Former three-term Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi, who’s working to reclaim his previous seat, has repeatedly tied Republican candidate Mazi Pilip to Santos and former President Donald Trump.
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Former U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi speaks throughout a marketing campaign launch occasion, Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024, in Plainview, New York. Within the race to exchange disgraced former Rep. George Santos, Democratic Congressional candidate Suozzi faces Republican Mazi Pilip in New York’s Third District. (AP Photograph/Mary Altaffer)
“Who is aware of what she actually stands for? She’s George Santos 2.0. It is precisely the identical non-transparent, faux nonsense, simply attempting to get votes as a substitute of claiming what you actually suppose,” Suozzi stated on the eve of the elections.
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 extremist” who’s “fully aligned 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 military earlier than immigrating to the USA, has linked Suozzi to President Biden and blamed him of the migrant disaster.
“, he is the one who opened the southern border. He voted with Biden 100% of the time. He supported the crew members 90% of the time, he’s the one who prompted the migrant disaster,” Philip claimed in a Fox message. Information interview on Sunday.
Republican congressional candidate Mazi Pilip holds a marketing campaign occasion in Franklin Sq., New York, on February 12, 2024, on the eve of a particular US Home election in NY-03. (Fox Information – Deirdre Heavey)
Suozzi, a centrist and average Democrat, has distanced herself from Biden and his get together in relation to immigration.
With Republicans at present holding a fragile 219-212 majority within the Home of Representatives – with 4 vacancies – a resurgence by Democrats would additional jeopardize the Republican Celebration’s maintain on the chamber.
The competition may additionally provide clues as to how high points like immigration and abortion will affect the November election.
“Tom Souzzi rolled out the purple carpet for unlawful immigrants,” claims a latest TV advert from the Congressional Management Fund, the primary tremendous PAC backing Republicans within the Home of Representatives.
And an advert from the Home Majority PAC, the highest tremendous PAC supporting Home Democrats, claims that “Mazi Pilip has a platform to ban abortion.”
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Along with a heavy marketing campaign in opposition to crime and immigration, Pilip – a former Democrat who claims the get together has “let me and plenty of others down” – can also be highlighting the October 7 Hamas assault on Israel as she seeks to win over voters who’re dissatisfied with the far-left’s criticism of Israel. the Jewish state and help for the Palestinians.
However her help for Trump — who she has admitted she voted for in 2020 — may harm her amongst average voters who aren’t followers of the previous president.
Suozzi – who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2022 as a substitute of in search of re-election to the Home of Representatives – is displaying his help for Israel and a visit he made to the nation final yr.
Republican congressional candidate Mazi Pilip speaks to reporters exterior a polling place in Massapequa, New York, on February 13, 2024, amid a snowstorm throughout a particular congressional election in NY-03. (Fox Information – Paul Steinhauser)
Whereas Suozzi, a marketing campaign veteran, has welcomed his interactions with reporters, Pilip’s public appearances have been fastidiously managed.
The district, which incorporates a part of the outer a part of the New York borough of Queens, is anchored in neighboring Nassau County. And it is the sort of suburban district the place Democrats should dominate within the 2024 elections as they give the impression of being to regain the Home majority they misplaced within the 2022 midterm elections.
However whereas Democrats have carried out effectively in suburban districts in latest cycles, Republicans have a historical past of popping out on high in New York’s Lengthy Island. Whereas Biden expanded the district’s present boundaries by eight factors in his victory within the 2020 presidential election, Santos gained the 2022 election for the Open Home seat by the identical margin.
Former Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi (heart, waving) greets voters exterior a polling place on February 13, 2024 in Glen Cove, New York, throughout a particular congressional election in NY-03. (Fox Information – Deidre Heavey)
The newest polls within the particular election confirmed Souzzi clinging to a slim single-digit lead over Pilip.
Turnout is taken into account essential to the result of those elections. Democrats appeared to have a slight lead within the nine-day early voting interval, which ended Sunday.
And a winter snowstorm swamped the district Tuesday morning because the polls opened. Though the treacherous climate handed by early afternoon, it may impression voter turnout on Election Day.
Get the most recent updates from the 2024 marketing campaign path, unique interviews and extra on our Fox Information Digital election hub.
Paul Steinhauser is a political reporter based mostly in New Hampshire.
Polls are closing on particular congressional elections seen as a harbinger of a possible Biden-Trump rematch
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