International Courant
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – The polls have closed in New York’s third Congressional District, in a intently watched particular election for a vacant Home seat as soon as held by former Republican Rep. George Santos, who was expelled from the chamber in December.
With the GOP hanging on to a razor-thin majority within the Home, nationwide Republicans and Democrats have poured massive bucks right into a race in suburban New York Metropolis the place immigration and border safety, crime, and abortion are prime points, and the place the election is seen as a bellwether forward of the all-but-certain November White Home rematch between President Biden and former President Donald Trump.
The Lengthy Island district held for a decade by Democrats was flipped by Santos within the 2022 midterms. However Santos was kicked out of Congress lower than a yr into his tenure, after he was uncovered for mendacity about his background and indicted for a slew of monetary crimes.
Former three-term Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi, who’s operating to reclaim his outdated seat, has repeatedly tied Republican candidate Mazi Pilip to Santos, in addition to to former President Donald Trump.
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Former U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi speaks throughout a marketing campaign canvass kick off occasion, Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024, in Plainview N.Y. The race to switch disgraced former Rep. George Santos pits Democrat congressional candidate Suozzi in opposition to Republican Mazi Pilip in New York’s third district. (AP Picture/Mary Altaffer)
“Who is aware of what she actually stands for? She’s George Santos 2.0. It is the very same nontransparent, phony baloney, simply attempting to get votes as an alternative of claiming what you actually suppose,” Suozzi charged on the eve of the election.
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 wing extremist” who’s “completely in step 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 navy earlier than immigrating to the US, has linked Suozzi to President Biden and blamed him for the migrant disaster.
“, he’s the one who opened the southern border. He voted with Biden 100% of the time. He supported squad members 90% of the time, he’s the one who prompted the migrant disaster,” Philip claimed in a Fox Information interview on Sunday.
Republican congressional candidate Mazi Pilip holds a marketing campaign occasion in Franklin Sq., New York, on Feb. 12, 2024, on the eve of a particular U.S. Home election in NY-03. (Fox Information – Deirdre Heavey)
Suozzi, a centrist and reasonable Democrat, has saved his distance from Biden and his social gathering with regards to immigration.
With Republicans at the moment holding a fragile 219-212 majority within the Home – with 4 vacancies – a pickup by the Democrats would put the GOP’s grip on the chamber additional in peril.
The competition can also supply clues to how prime points like immigration and abortion will impression November’s elections.
“Tom Souzzi rolled out the purple carpet for unlawful immigrants,” claims a current TV advert from the Congressional Management Fund, the principle tremendous PAC supporting Home Republicans.
And a industrial from the Home Majority PAC, the highest tremendous PAC backing Home Democrats, prices that “Mazi Pilip is operating on a platform to ban abortion.”
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In addition to campaigning closely on crime and immigration, Pilip – a former Democrat who argues the social gathering “left me and plenty of others” – can be spotlighting the Oct. 7 Hamas assault on Israel as she goals to win voters sad with the far-left’s criticism of the Jewish State and help for the Palestinians.
However her help of Trump – who she has acknowledged she voted for in 2020 – could damage her with reasonable voters who usually are not followers of the previous president.
Suozzi – who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2022 moderately than search re-election to the Home – is showcasing his help for Israel and a visit he made to the nation final yr.
Republican congressional candidate Mazi Pilip speaks with reporters exterior a polling location in Massapequa, New York, on Feb. 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 features a sliver of the outer portion of the New York Metropolis borough of Queens, is anchored in neighboring Nassau County. And it is the sort of suburban district the place Democrats must dominate within the 2024 elections as they purpose to reclaim the Home majority they misplaced within the 2022 midterms.
However whereas Democrats have carried out properly in suburban districts in current cycles, Republicans have a historical past of popping out on prime on New York’s Lengthy Island. Whereas Biden carried the present confines of the district by eight factors in his 2020 presidential election victory, Santos gained the 2022 election for the open Home seat by the identical margin.
Former Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi (middle, waving) greets voters exterior a polling location on Feb. 13, 2024 in Glen Cove, New York, in a particular congressional election in NY-03. (Fox Information – Deidre Heavey)
The ultimate public opinion polls within the particular election instructed that Souzzi was clinging to a slight single-digit edge over Pilip.
Turnout is taken into account key within the end result of this election. Democrats appeared to get pleasure from a slight edge within the nine-day early voting interval, which ended on Sunday.
And a winter snowstorm walloped the District on Tuesday morning, as polls opened. Whereas the treacherous climate handed by early afternoon, it might impression Election Day voter turnout.
Get the most recent updates from the 2024 marketing campaign path, unique interviews and extra at our Fox Information Digital election hub.
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter primarily based in New Hampshire.
