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GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – The polls have closed in New York’s third Congressional District, in a intently watched special election for a vacant House 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 in the House, nationwide Republicans and Democrats have poured huge bucks right into a race in suburban New York City the place immigration and border safety, crime, and abortion are high points, and the place the election is seen as a bellwether ahead of the all-but-certain November White House rematch between President Biden and former President Donald Trump.
The Long Island district held for a decade by Democrats was flipped by Santos in the 2022 midterms. But 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 working to reclaim his previous seat, has repeatedly tied Republican candidate Mazi Pilip to Santos, as properly as 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 Photo/Mary Altaffer)
“Who knows what she really stands for? She’s George Santos 2.0. It’s the exact same nontransparent, phony baloney, just trying to get votes instead of saying what you really think,” Suozzi charged on the eve of the election.
And Suozzi, a former mayor and county government, argued that Pilip – who’s in her second time period as a county lawmaker – “is a far-right wing extremist” who’s “completely in line 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 in the Israeli navy earlier than immigrating to the United States, has linked Suozzi to President Biden and blamed him for the migrant disaster.
“You know, he is the one who opened the southern border. He voted with Biden 100% of the time. He supported squad members 90% of the time, he is the one who caused the migrant crisis,” Philip claimed in a Fox News interview on Sunday.
Republican congressional candidate Mazi Pilip holds a marketing campaign occasion in Franklin Square, New York, on Feb. 12, 2024, on the eve of a special U.S. House election in NY-03. (Fox News – Deirdre Heavey)
Suozzi, a centrist and reasonable Democrat, has saved his distance from Biden and his occasion in relation to immigration.
With Republicans at present holding a fragile 219-212 majority in the House – with 4 vacancies – a pickup by the Democrats would put the GOP’s grip on the chamber additional in peril.
The contest may additionally supply clues to how high points like immigration and abortion will influence November’s elections.
“Tom Souzzi rolled out the red carpet for illegal immigrants,” claims a latest TV advert from the Congressional Leadership Fund, the principle tremendous PAC supporting House Republicans.
And a industrial from the House Majority PAC, the highest tremendous PAC backing House Democrats, fees that “Mazi Pilip is running on a platform to ban abortion.”
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Besides campaigning closely on crime and immigration, Pilip – a former Democrat who argues the occasion “left me and many others” – can also 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 assist for the Palestinians.
But her assist of Trump – who she has acknowledged she voted for in 2020 – could damage her with reasonable voters who are usually not followers of the previous president.
Suozzi – who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2022 relatively than search re-election to the House – is showcasing his assist for Israel and a visit he made to the nation final yr.
Republican congressional candidate Mazi Pilip speaks with reporters outdoors a polling location in Massapequa, New York, on Feb. 13, 2024, amid a snowstorm throughout a special Congressional election in NY-03. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
While Suozzi, a marketing campaign veteran, has welcomed his interactions with reporters, Pilip’s public appearances have been rigorously managed.
The district, which features a sliver of the outer portion of the New York City borough of Queens, is anchored in neighboring Nassau County. And it is the type of suburban district the place Democrats must dominate in the 2024 elections as they purpose to reclaim the House majority they misplaced in the 2022 midterms.
But whereas Democrats have carried out properly in suburban districts in latest cycles, Republicans have a historical past of popping out on high on New York’s Long Island. While Biden carried the present confines of the district by eight factors in his 2020 presidential election victory, Santos received the 2022 election for the open House seat by the identical margin.
Former Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi (heart, waving) greets voters outdoors a polling location on Feb. 13, 2024 in Glen Cove, New York, in a special congressional election in NY-03. (Fox News – Deidre Heavey)
The remaining public opinion polls in the special election instructed that Souzzi was clinging to a slight single-digit edge over Pilip.
Turnout is taken into account key in the result of this election. Democrats appeared to get pleasure from a slight edge in the nine-day early voting interval, which ended on Sunday.
And a winter snowstorm walloped the District on Tuesday morning, as polls opened. While the treacherous climate handed by early afternoon, it might influence Election Day voter turnout.
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