Democrat Tom Suozzi took revenge by recovering the New York state district seat that was taken from them in 2021 by the confabulator and corrupt Republican George Santos, whose many of his own colleagues, allied with progressives, forced his expulsion of the Lower House last December.
This victory in a special call, to which a national key has been attributed, is a lifeline for Democrats at a time of anxiety due to the constant conversation about President Joe Biden’s vulnerabilities. It also represents a shot of energy in order to improve prospects in the November presidential elections, questioning the polls, and showing the route to take over hinge districts, which they lost in 2022, which would allow them to regain control of the House of Representatives. Representatives. The ‘House’ now has 219 Republican legislators and 213 Democrats.
Suozzi, 61, defeated Republican nominee Mazi Pilip by nearly ten points in the Third District, which covers a small portion of the New York City Council of Queens (strongly Democratic) and Nassau County, Long Island, with a more conservative trend.
The democrat had already been a representative of this district on three occasions (then the territorial division was more favorable to him). In 2021 he resigned to run for governor, where he came third in the primaries.
Pilip, mothers of seven children, was a debutante in this contest. An Ethiopian Jewish woman, she served in the Israeli army before immigrating with her family to the United States. She achieved citizenship in 2009. She had the detail of accepting defeat with dignity and without speculation. “I have already called the other candidate to congratulate him,” she said immediately in her speech.
Despite radically opposing positions (for example, Suozzi is pro-abortion and Pilip is radically anti), the two have agreed on a common denominator. Both have marked differences with the leaders of their respective parties, avoiding taking out both Biden and Donald Trump in the dispute. But there is no doubt that for the former president it is a stronger blow because this means losing the support of the lying Santos, one of his most fervent spokespersons.
Trump reacted quickly and blamed Pilip for not having claimed his support, ensuring that his blessed ones are victorious, although it was another of his falsehoods. The defeats of his elected officials have been common, as was demonstrated in the 2018, 2020 and 2022 elections. The former president despised Pilip in the statement on his social network, accused her of having been a democrat (true) and opted to put another candidate in November. Suossi must revalidate the seat in nine months, as the legislature is exhausted.
This electoral race is one of the most expensive ever held for a seat in Congress as a national struggle is established, with central issues for the general elections such as the interruption of pregnancy and, above all, the question of the border with Mexico, when it occurs a large flow of immigrants to New York City that has been projected into this territory.
In defeat, former Republican congressman Vito Fossella criticized the attempt to make a national reading of a result that affects a single district. Democrats recalled, however, the litany of destructive criticism that would have been heard against Biden if Suozzi lost, and in particular an apocalyptic country would have been painted due to the invasion of undocumented immigrants.
But it is also true that the centrist Suozzi, who spent $13.8 million, five more than his rival, tried in his campaign to distance himself from his party by demanding tougher policies on border control and promising to work to repair the immigration system. In recent days he attacked the Republicans for submitting to Trump’s personal will and sabotaging a pact between the two parties to carry out precisely that reform.
“Despite all the attacks and lies about Tom Suozzi, being accused of being part of the ‘squad’ (nickname for the most left-wing group of Democratic legislators), of being the godfather of the immigration crisis, of being the Suozzi sanctuary (of immigrants), despite the traps of the Republicans, now we can celebrate the victory,” he stressed in his speech to his followers. He promised that his job will be to find common ground in a divided country.
Suozzi’s return to the Washington Capitol also puts pressure on Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House of Representatives. Only two votes can be allowed on the bills they propose, a difficult margin to manage that can limit the Republicans’ legislative agenda in an election year.
