Tom Suozzi: Democrats hail victory in special election to replace George Santos

Democrats are celebrating their victory in a special election for a seat left vacant when Republican George Santos was expelled from Congress.

Tom Suozzi’s win on Tuesday night over Mazi Pilip shaves the Republican party’s already razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives.

Democrats said the result shows they can take the fight to Republicans on the hot-button issue of immigration.

Mr Santos was ousted last December over allegations of fraud and corruption.

With most ballots tallied, Mr Suozzi had 54% of the vote, while Ms Pilip had 46%, according to CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

Registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans in the third congressional district, which extends from the New York City borough of Queens into the western suburbs of Long Island.

Mr Suozzi, who ran as a moderate, will finish Mr Santos’s term before running again this November.

In a victory speech briefly interrupted by protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, Mr Suozzi spoke of healing political differences.

He also took a swipe at Republicans who control the House, saying: “Let’s send a message to our friends running the Congress these days: stop running around for Trump, and start running the country.”

Ms Pilip distanced herself from Mr Trump for much of the campaign, and the former president said in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday night that she was a “very foolish woman” because she did not endorse him.

The election marks a return to Congress for the Democrat, who previously served three terms in the US House but opted in 2022 to run for governor in New York instead.

That bid was unsuccessful, and voters replaced him in Congress with Mr Santos.

Ms Pilip, a state legislator who did not have as much name recognition as her rival, made immigration central to her campaign.

She blamed Mr Suozzi and his fellow Democrats for New York City’s wave of migrant arrivals and the crisis unfolding at the southern border.

But Mr Suozzi emphasised the need to strengthen border policy, saying that he had at times defied his own party on the issue while in Congress.

Democrats said the race could hold a roadmap to the US general election in November.

Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut posted on X: “Like Suozzi, Democrats can and should go on the offense on the border. Everywhere.”

It follows the collapse of a bipartisan Senate border security bill after Mr Trump and his allies condemned it as inadequate.

Ms Pilip, an Ethiopian-Israeli immigrant and observant Jew, had pitched her unwavering support of Israel in a district with a large share of Jewish voters.

But Mr Suozzi declared himself a staunch ally of Israel, too, arguing that he would counterbalance left-wing Democrats who want to slash US aid to Israel.

Mr Suozzi seized on the issue of abortion to counter-attack Ms Pilip, a mother-of-seven who said she was personally against terminating pregnancies, but would not force her beliefs others.

This result reduces the Republican House majority to 219-213. Three seats – one of which was held by ex-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy until his resignation in December – remain vacant.

By a margin of just one vote on Tuesday evening, House Republicans impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the border crisis.