Tom Suozzi WINS special election to replace George Santos: Democrat defeats Republican Mazi Pilip and loses narrow Republican majority in the House of Representatives

Democrat Tom Suozzi scored a victory in the special election for New York’s 3rd Congressional District to replace serial fabulist and former Rep. George Santos.

The Associated Press predicted that Suozzi triumphed over Republican Mazi Pilip with 52 percent of the votes counted.

The result is a strong sign for Democrats heading into the 2024 elections in November, when they will try to win back the House of Representatives after a Republican-led term in Congress that was marred by chaos.

Suozzi’s victory over Pilip further reduces the Republican majority in the House of Representatives. The Republicans have only 219 seats and the Democrats will gain a total of 213 seats with the addition of Suozzi.

His victory could hamper the Republican agenda due to their razor-thin majority. Once he is sworn in, the Republican Party can only afford two votes to pass measures where all Democrats vote “no.”

Serial liar Santos was voted out of Congress after just 11 months in office following an ethics report showing that he improperly diverted campaign contributions to pay for it Botox treatments, Hermes bags, Fans only and withdrawals in a casino.

Fearing defeat in New York, Republicans rushed to push through the impeachment of the Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas earlier on Tuesday after it failed last week.

With Majority Leader Steve Scalise back from his recovery from cancer treatment and Suozzi not yet sworn in, they could lose three Republican votes and still pass the measure.

The vote also came just as a Nor’easter storm battered New York with snow and threatened to impact voter turnout.

Pilip and Suozzi both encouraged voters to cast their ballots despite a winter storm warning through Tuesday evening, when the Nor’easter dropped up to a foot of snow on parts of the region.

Suozzi, a former three-term congressman and Nassau County executive, left his previous congressional seat to run for governor but lost in a primary to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Polls showed Suozzi, 61, with a slight lead over Pilip, a member of the Nassau County Legislature, after Santos’ disastrous ouster.

President Biden himself stayed out of the race, with Suozzi telling CNN that a visit from the president would not be “helpful.”

Speaker Mike Johnson endorsed Pilip in the district earlier this month.

Pilip has said she will support Donald Trump if he is the Republican nominee, but not if he is convicted of a crime.

“No one is above the law,” said the Ethiopian-born former Israeli paratrooper. “If he’s convicted of a crime, he can’t represent us.”

In the days leading up to the race, the candidates made their final digs. “The bottom line is that my opponent, Mazi Pilip, is George Santos 2.0,” Suozzi called the Republican during a weekend in Plainview, New York.

Meanwhile, Nassau County Republican Executive Bruce Blakeman has fired Suozzi on behalf of Pilip.

“Mazi stood shoulder to shoulder with me as we hired another 200 police officers over the past two years,” Blakeman said on the Cats Roundtable WABC 770 AM radio.

“When Tom Suozzi was county executive, he didn’t want to fund the police department anymore,” he continued. “He raised taxes. He has made Nassau County a haven.”

Both candidates placed Israel and immigration at the forefront of their race.

Suozzi has criticized House Republicans for refusing to negotiate on the border and has taken aim at his opponent’s opposition to the bipartisan immigration and foreign aid bill introduced in the Senate.

The $95 billion relief package was passed by the Senate on Tuesday morning, but faces an uncertain fate in the House of Representatives.

Pilip has criticized the bipartisan deal, claiming it “legalizes” the US invasion of the southern border.

Suozzi told reporters on Sunday that if Republicans blocked the bipartisan deal, “we would ultimately see more migrants coming to New York; plus they get access to AR-15s.”

Pilip, a mother of seven who describes herself as “pro-life,” has said she would not support a national abortion ban and that every woman should be able to make her own decision, but has expressed support for the Dobbs decision in which the Supreme Court The Court kicked abortion legislation back to the United States.

She praised the support of police leaders and the Border Patrol Union, which also backed the Senate immigration and foreign aid deal.

Perhaps the point where the candidates are more closely aligned is their position on Israel. Both have actively involved New York’s Jewish community in waging a war in Gaza following the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7.

Suozzi distinguished himself from some Democrats by announcing his support for the Republican-led standalone Israel aid bill.

He said that while he would prefer a comprehensive bipartisan package, he is committed to doing whatever it takes to stand with Israel. That bill failed in the House of Representatives.

On the eve of the elections, Suozzi was particularly critical of Biden’s age.

“The bottom line is he’s old,” Suozzi told a local newscaster. “I know 81-year-olds who are in great shape and I know 81-year-olds who are not in great shape. He’s old and there’s no doubt about that.’

There is a “debate about whether (Biden) will hold out or not,” he added.

Suozzi was non-committal when asked if he would support President Biden in the 2024 election. He said he would “probably” support the president, but that he would wait to “see what happens.”