New York’s 3rd Congressional District, previously represented by George Santos, a Republican, has flipped back to Democratic control with Tom Suozzi’s decisive victory over Mazi Pilip.

Suozzi held the same seat from 2017 to 2023, and will now serve the remainder of Santos’s term in the House (which lasts until January 2025). 

Pilip, a Nassau County legislator, was born in Ethiopia, emigrated to Israel where she fought in the Israel Defense Forces, and then moved to the United States. 

While Pilip campaigned on being a “political outsider,” Suozzi positioned himself as an experienced centrist candidate. A focal point of this special election was illegal immigration, an issue on which Suozzi played up his moderation. 

Interestingly enough, although Pilip ran as a Republican candidate, public records show that she has been enrolled as a Democrat since 2012. In a district where Republican voters just were betrayed by their previous representative, another self-proclaimed “outsider,” it is no surprise that Pilip was unable to repeat the electoral upset of 2022.

Republicans currently have a razor-thin majority in the House, 219–212, which has grown ever more tenuous, particularly following the resignations of Reps. Bill Johnson of Ohio and Kevin McCarthy of California.