Democrat Tom Suozzi on Tuesday won a special election to reclaim his old New York congressional seat that was vacated by disgraced former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y.
Suozzi led Republican Mazi Pilip 54-46 Wednesday morning with nearly all of the votes counted, according to The Associated Press.
Suozzi, a centrist who pushed for tougher border policies and bail laws, won his old seat thanks to a strong showing in Nassau County, where he previously served as the county executive, despite a snowstorm hitting the area on Election Day. The win further cuts the slim House GOP majority to 219-212.
Former President Donald Trump immediately deflected blame for the loss on Pilip, a registered Democrat who holds local office as a Republican and sought to distance herself from Trump before praising him ahead of the election.
“Republicans just don’t learn, but maybe she was still a Democrat? I have an almost 99% Endorsement Success Rate in Primaries, and a very good number in the General Elections, as well, but just watched this very foolish woman, Mazi Melesa Pilip, running in a race where she didn’t endorse me and tried to ‘straddle the fence,’ when she would have easily WON if she understood anything about MODERN DAY politics in America,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“MAGA, WHICH IS MOST OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, STAYED HOME - AND IT ALWAYS WILL, UNLESS IT IS TREATED WITH THE RESPECT THAT IT DESERVES. I STAYED OUT OF THE RACE, ‘I WANT TO BE LOVED!’ GIVE US A REAL CANDIDATE IN THE DISTRICT FOR NOVEMBER. SUOZZI, I KNOW HIM WELL, CAN BE EASILY BEATEN!” he added.
CNN analyst Scott Jennings, a Republican strategist, raised concerns that Democrats “crushed” Republicans in early voting in the district while the majority of GOP voters had to face a snowstorm on the day of the election.
“A big part of it is the Republican Party remains resistant to getting votes in the bank,” Jennings complained after Trump and his allies repeatedly attacked early voting in 2020.
“Who could have possibly given the Republicans the idea that it’s not a good idea?” asked anchor Anderson Cooper.
“Who could have given you such a stupid strategy?” pundit Van Jones interjected. “I’m just trying to think to myself, is there someone who’s just a perpetual loser, who loses over and over again, who also has a losing strategy when it comes to not voting early? Do you have, sir, any idea?”
CNN anchor Dana Bash reported that several voters said to her on Election Day “that they don’t want to vote for the Republican because it’s clearly impossible to get a solution on the issue of immigration” after the party tanked a bipartisan border bill last week amid pressure from Trump.
We need your help to stay independent
“The fact that Republicans killed that bipartisan deal put them over the edge to vote for Tom Suozzi,” Bash said.
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough agreed that Trump’s pressure to kill the bipartisan deal hurt the GOP in a race where the border was a top issue.
Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.
"Tom Suozzi was on the defensive on the issue of immigration until that happened, and when that happened, when Donald Trump killed the bill, the reporters up there say, the entire issue turned on its head. Suozzi leaned into it and won on the issue of immigration. Stop for a second, listen to what I just said: A Democrat won on the issue of immigration,” Scarborough said.
"Republicans lose again – 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, last night, and they aren't just losing because the stars are aligned against them," he added. "They're losing because one self-inflicted Trump wound after another. This is just the latest chapter and verse of that."
Shares