Democrat Tom Suozzi declares victory over Republican Mazi Pilip in NY-03 special election
WOODBURY, N.Y. -- Democrat Tom Suozzi is the projected winner in the special election in New York's 3rd Congressional District for the U.S. House seat that was left vacant when Republican George Santos was expelled from Congress, according to the Associated Press and CBS News.
Suozzi defeated Republican Mazi Pilip, who conceded Tuesday night, to retake a seat he held for three terms before giving it up to run, unsuccessfully, for governor.
Suozzi wins
A nerve-wracking night for Nassau Democrats ended with elation as voters sent Suozzi back to Congress, as he likes to say, to "fix this." He was introduced to his supporters as the comeback kid.
"Despite all the attacks, 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," Suozzi said during his victory speech.
He went on to say, "There are divisions in our country where people can't even talk to each other. All they can do is yell and scream at each other, and that's not the answer to the problems we face in our country. The answer is to try and bring people of goodwill together to try and find that common ground."
Watch Suozzi's victory speech
The victory narrows the slim Republican majority in the House and gives Democrats a much-needed win in New York City's Long Island suburbs, where the GOP showed surprising strength in recent elections.
Democratic sources said early in the evening their numbers looked promising with 14,000 more votes for Suozzi in early voting and absentee ballots.
"We've got more numbers in early voting on the Democratic side than the Republicans, absentee ballots overwhelming, and so now coming into Election Day, the concern was were we going to get swamped by a Republican vote. That didn't happen. Now, that doesn't mean that we know the outcome because of course about 25 or so percent of the vote is unaffiliated, and how they vote is going to be determinative," New York State Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs said.
Democrats and Republicans will get a chance to fight over the congressional seat again in November's general election, though the battleground may look different.
That's because the state's congressional districts are set to be redrawn again in the next few months because of a court order. Democrats, who dominate state government, are widely expected to try to craft more favorable lines for their candidates.
New York is expected to play an outsize role in determining control of Congress this year, with competitive races in multiple contests in the suburban and exurban rings around New York City.
An intense race
Just to give an idea of the intensity in the battle between Suozzi and Pilip, 18 mailings were sent to one house in two weeks and $20 million was spent on a race, which will impact which party controls the House of Representatives.
There were cheers from the health care union for "Suozzi not Mazi" on Tuesday. The former congressman fired up supporters after a barrage of attack ads tried to tie him to the migrant crisis. He fought back hard with a message that he's the post-George Santos vote for sanity.
"If you want change in Washington D.C., I'm your candidate because Washington D.C is broken. Everything is about partisanship and fighting, fighting, fighting, and my whole campaign and career is about bringing people together," Suozzi said.
That, he says, takes experience, not just rhetoric. Suozzi painted Pilip as the novice with "no clue how to run a government," adding he, as the centrist, has the solutions.
"She's not very clear about what her positions are. She won't stand up and say what she really believes in. She waffles all over the place. It's really Santos 2.0," Suozzi said.
Following heavy early voting, polling places got a slow start as the snow fell. Volunteers knocked on doors until nightfall.
"They can say a lot of things, but let's look at the work he has done, and how good of a job he has done," supporter Taleisha Reid said.
"We saw what happened with the last guy. We have to make a smart choice. We have to make sure there is someone in office with experience, someone who is trustworthy," supporter Alexandra Ryan added.
