What does Suozzi’s Win Mean? Not What You Think
In cable news, we practice the persuasive arts — and I’ll be the first to admit that we commentators have a penchant for hyperbole and a tendency to overstate. We especially like to do that with local and midterm elections like New York’s congressional special election.
“What does it mean?” is simply too tempting a question to answer honestly, which is sometimes, “It doesn’t mean anything” or “It doesn’t mean that much.”
Former Rep. Tom Suozzi defeated Mazi Pilip to win back the seat once occupied by the disgraced, truth-averse Republican and self-proclaimed diva George Santos, who is fetching $350 a video on Cameo while he awaits trial for the 23 fraud-related charges he is facing.
So what does Suozzi’s decisive 8-point win mean? Well, not nothing, but not everything either.
And with all due respect to my friend and CNN colleague, former Rep. Max Rose, whom I joined on television Wednesday morning, the victory was not “monumental” for the Democratic Party and President Biden. Not even close.
But here’s what we can take away:
First, special elections aren’t usually a bellwether for national elections, and this is no exception. It’s a district that, despite being flipped by Santos in 2022, Biden won by 9 points in 2020, and where Democrats lead Republicans 39% to 28%. Another third of registered voters are independents.
Suozzi also held the seat for three consecutive terms making him a de facto incumbent.
Pilip, on the other hand, was a relative unknown. She had just under two months to introduce herself to voters and in that time offered up some confusing and mixed messages on abortion, and immigration, and even whether she was supporting former President Donald Trump.
Democrats also outspent her $14 million to $8 million. So, to call her the underdog is a fair statement.
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