After the House expelled George Santos from Congress at the end of 2024, the vote to replace him is set for Tuesday, Feb. 13. Though the race is tight, a poll taken at the beginning of February shows Democrat candidate Tom Suozzi four points ahead of Republican Mazi Pilip.
Whoever wins will complete Santos’ two-year term. If they want to continue serving in the House after January 2025, they will have to win the seat again in November.
Who is Mazi Pilip?
Pilip serves in the Nassau County Legislature. After immigrating as a 12-year-old to Israel from Ethiopia with her family, Pilip served as a gunsmith in the Israel Defense Force and went on to receive degrees from the University of Haifa and Tel Aviv University.
While at Tel Aviv University, Pilip met her future husband, Adalbert Pilip, who is Ukrainian-American, according to Jewish Insider.
In 2005, they moved to the U.S., and they currently live in Great Neck, New York. Now with dual Israeli and American citizenship, Pilip is a mother of seven.
On Friday, twelve police and corrections unions in New York City, Nassau County and Suffolk County endorsed Pilip, according to The New York Post.
Pilip’s said she would work on providing tax relief, securing the border and combatting antisemitism. She plans to “work with ICE to curb illegal immigration,” according to her campaign site. Regarding abortion rights, Pilip said she “will not support a federal abortion ban or funding cuts for reproductive rights and care.”
Who is Tom Suozzi?
Suozzi served as a New York Representative from 2017 to 2023, succeeded by Santos. He also served as mayor of Glen Cove from 1994 to 2001 and county executive in Nassau County from 2002 to 2009.
After earning an undergraduate degree from Boston College, Suozzi got his law degree at Fordham Law. Outside of his political career, he has worked as an attorney and a consultant.
Suozzi’s campaign site says the former representative is “focused on bipartisanship” and “helped negotiate the historic Infrastructure and Jobs Act, which invested billions of dollars to improve New York’s infrastructure.” In 2022, Suozzi helped pass legislation lowering the cost of prescription drugs including insulin.
Suozzi calls Pilip ‘George Santos 2.0’
At a campaign event Sunday, Suozzi called Pilip “George Santos 2.0,” as Fox News reported.
Suozzi continued, saying Pilip is “utterly unvetted, lying about her record, covering up her extreme positions, being untruthful about her finances, and thumbing her nose at democracy by hiding in the basement and spewing this tired old same talking points and resorting to extremist my-way-or-the-highway type of politics that will mean nothing gets done.”
Meanwhile, responding to a clip of Suozzi answering a question on whether he supports sanctuary cities, Suozzi wrote on X, “@Tom_Suozzi must have amnesia!”
“He’s bragged about creating the first migrant center on the East Coast as Mayor in the 90’s, boasted that he kicked ICE agents out of Nassau County, & he’s supported Joe Biden’s failed border policies. We remember all that Sanctuary Suozzi has done,” she added.