Mazi Pilip-- Santos All Over Again!
The next big election of national interest is on February 13 to fill the Long Island congressional seat George Santos was unceremoniously kicked out of. The Nassau County Republican Party seems to have set out to pick another Santos for the spot. They came up with Mazi Pilip, an Ethiopian Israeli who knows more about the challenges facing the Knesset than the challenges facing Congress— or Long Island. She avoids the mainstream media and only takes questions from the right-wing echo chamber.
NY-03, much of Nassau County (Great Neck, Port Washington, Glen Cove, Oyster Bay, Jericho, Hicksville, Mineola, Syosset, Bethpage, Farmingdale, Manhasset, Plainview) and a sliver of northeastern Queens (Whitestone, Little Neck, Floral Park) has a partisan lean of D+4 but has been trending red. It’s the wealthiest congressional district in New York and the 4th wealthiest in America. Tom Suozzi won the seat— by around 10 points— in 2016 and was easily reelected in 2018 and 2020. In 2022 he gave up the seat to run for governor, which is when Santos slipped in, the Democrats having put up an unelectable candidate with nothing to offer. 2024 is the GOP’s turn to offer up an unelectable candidate with nothing to offer.
Covering the race for the NY Times, Nick Fandos noted that her personal finances are “hazy… largely comprising her husband’s medical practice and Bitcoin investments. In an unusual disclosure, she said the couple owed and later repaid as much as $250,000 to the IRS last year.” Her financial report is as shady as Santos’ filled with inconsistencies and outright deceptions. She hasn’t been charged with any crimes yet and calls all the deceptions “innocent mistakes,” just as Santos did when he first got caught.
Yesterday, Gothamist reporter Brigid Bergin wrote that Pilip “has largely kept a low profile… While Democrat Tom Suozzi is traversing New York’s 3rd Congressional District to bolster support from the voters he used to represent in Congress, Republican candidate Mazi Pilip has kept her schedule largely under wraps, appearing at events with party officials, avoiding her opponent, and undecided voters, on the campaign trail. Pilip’s low public profile is proving fodder for Suozzi’s campaign, which is chiding her for ‘ducking’ candidate forums and debates, including one Wednesday morning held by several chambers of commerce on Long Island. Pilip’s campaign said she plans to appear with New York City Councilmember Vickie Paladino at the American Legion Hall in Whitestone, Queens, later in the day.”
Bergin wrote that “[H]er lack of visibility in the district is leading to head-scratching and frustration among some voters who are determined to get to know the candidates before the special election, especially following the scandals that plagued Santos over his ever-evolving and fictitious background.”
If Pilip ever pops her head out from whatever rock she’s hiding under, she’s going to find out the NY-03 isn’t at all politically extreme and that whomever gave her advice to campaign only to the hardcore MAGA base did her no favor. Take gun control. Pilip embraces the GOP/Conservative Party/NRA approach in a suburban district more concerned about protecting children than getting into gun battles with the “Deep State.” Gun safety is prominent in the 10 point plan Suozzi is using as his platform. At a press conference yesterday, he asked reporters to review his work as Mayor of Glen Cove Nassau and as County Executive. As mayor, he increased the police force and reduced crime to the lowest level of any community of over 25,000 people in New York. As the Nassau County Executive, he oversaw the 12th largest police department in the US, noting that “during his tenure, crime decreased to its lowest level in decades. As a Member of Congress, he co-sponsored every gun violence prevention bill, as well as working with former Republican Rep. Peter King, on background checks that the vast majority of Americans support. ‘I’m proud of my F-rating from the NRA. We see these violent acts with guns happening much too often. It’s not only the tragedy that splits families apart. It’s not only the deaths that take place. It’s about public safety,’ said Suozzi.”
Tom Suozzi is frustrated that his GOP/Conservative Party opponent is running the same kind of ghost-like campaign that Santos did, leaving it up to voters to try to guess what they stand for and waht they'll fight for. That ended very badly with Santos. Suozzi: “In the wake of George Santos, it is incumbent upon candidates to go out of their way to be as transparent as possible. The most sure-fire way to do that is to participate in debates and candidate forums, to listen to voters, answer their questions, and defend your positions. Mazi Pilip is running the same non-transparent campaign as Santos did.”
Suozzi has accepted a dozen debates and candidate forum invitations and is willing to accept more. Pilip has accepted two and the first one she called off at the last minute. It’s reasonable for voters to wonder why she’s hiding and what she doesn't want tghemto know about her.
An Emerson poll out today shows Suozzi ahead 45% to 42%. "Suozzi leads Pilip among voters whose highest degree of education is a college degree, 48% to 44%, and postgraduate degree, 53% to 33%. Pilip leads among voters whose highest degree is high school or less, 53% to 30%. While younger voters (ages 18 to 39) disapprove of the job Joe Biden is doing as President, 50% to 40%, the same demographic is breaking for Suozzi 53% to 34%. Pilip leads among the Third District’s white voters, 49% to 40%, and 44% to 33% among Hispanics, while Suozzi leads among the district’s large population of Asian voters, 60% to 25%. Souzzi leads Pilip among males 45% to 43% and among females 45% to 41%."