With the flip of Santos' NY seat to the Dem tonight, that's where things stand. GOP slim majority getting slimmer.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ne...pecial-election.html

By MORGAN PHILLIPS, CONGRESS REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and SARAH EWALL-WICE
PUBLISHED: 22:07 EST, 13 February 2024 | UPDATED: 23:15 EST, 13 February 2024


Democrat Tom Suozzi captured a victory in the special election for New York's Third congressional district to replace serial fabulist and former Rep. George Santos.

The Associated Press projected that Suozzi triumphed over Republican Mazi Pilip with 52 percent of the total vote counted.

'This race was fought amidst a closely divided electorate, much like our whole country. This race was centered on immigration and the economy, much like the issues all across our country,' Suozzi said speaking to a crowd of supporters Tuesday night on Long Island. 'We won this race because we addressed the issues and we found a way to bind our divisions.'

While Suozzi's victory speech focused on finding common ground, he was interrupted at the start of his remarks multiple times by pro-Palestinian protesters who accused him of supporting genocide for his stance on Israel. His supporters started chanting 'Suozzi' to drown out the protesters until they were removed from the room.

Earlier in the night, Pilip gave a short speech thanking supporters just after 10am ET. She said she called to congratulated Suozzi on his win.

'We are fighters, yes we lost, but it doesn't mean we're going to end here,' Pilip said. She vowed to continue the fight to bring 'common sense government.'

The result is a strong sign for Democrats heading into the 2024 elections come November when they will try reclaim the House after a Republican-led congressional term marred by chaos.

Suozzi's win over Pilip slims the Republican majority in the House down even further. Republicans have just 219 seats and Democrats will hold a total of 213 seats with the addition of Suozzi.

His win could hamstring the Republican agenda due to their razor thin majority. Once he is sworn in, the House GOP can only afford to lose two votes to pass measures where all Democrats vote 'no.'

Serial liar Santos was voted out of Congress after serving just 11 months in office following an ethics report revealing he improperly diverted campaign contributions to pay for Botox treatments, Hermes bags, OnlyFans and cash withdrawals at a casino.

After the special election was called, Santos posted on X taking aim at the New York Republican lawmakers who helped oust him, blaming them for losing a seat in the House.

Fearing the defeat in New York, Republicans rushed to push through the impeachment of Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas earlier on Tuesday after it failed last week.

With Majority Leader Steve Scalise back from his cancer treatment recovery and Suozzi not yet sworn in, they were able to lose three GOP votes and still pass the measure.

The vote also came just as a Nor'easter storm pounded New York with snow and threatened to impact voter turnout.
Pilip and Suozzi were both encouraging voters to get out and cast their ballots despite the winter storm warning through Tuesday evening as the Nor'easter dropped as much as a foot of snow on parts of the region.

Suozzi, a former three-term congressman and Nassau County executive, left his previous congressional seat to run for governor, but lost in a primary to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Polling showed Suozzi, 61, had a slight edge over Pilip, a member of the Nassau County legislature, after the calamitous Santos ousting.

President Biden himself stayed out of the race, with Suozzi telling CNN a visit from the president would not be 'helpful.'

Speaker Mike Johnson stumped for Pilip in the district earlier this month.

Pilip has said she will support Donald Trump if he is the GOP candidate, but not if he is convicted of a crime.

'Nobody is above the law,' the Ethiopia-born former Israeli paratrooper said. 'If he's convicted of a crime, he cannot represent us.'

The candidates got in their last digs in the days leading up to the race. 'The bottom line is my opponent, Mazi Pilip, is George Santos 2.0,' Suozzi called the Republican while stumping in Plainview, N.Y., over the weekend.

Meanwhile Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman torched Suozzi on Pilip's behalf.

'Mazi stood shoulder-to-shoulder with me when we hired an additional 200 police officers in the last two years,' Blakeman said on Cats Roundtable WABC 770 AM radio.

'When Tom Suozzi was county executive, he wanted to defund the police,' he went on. 'He increased taxes. He made Nassau County a sanctuary county.'

Both candidates put Israel and immigration front and center of their races.

Suozzi has criticized House Republicans for refusing to negotiate over the border and has taken aim at his opponent's opposition to the bipartisan immigration and foreign aid bill introduced in the Senate.

The $95 billion aid package was passed by the Senate Tuesday morning, but faces an uncertain fate in the House.

Pilip has criticized the bipartisan deal, claiming it 'legalizes the invasion' of the U.S. at the southern border.

Suozzi told reporters Sunday if Republicans blocked the bipartisan deal, 'we're gonna end up with more migrants coming to New York; and on top of that, they're gonna have access to AR-15s.'

Pilip, a mother of seven who describes herself as 'pro-life,' has said she would not back a national abortion ban and every woman should be able to make their own decision, but has voiced support for the Dobbs decision in which the Supreme Court kicked abortion law back to the states.

She touted endorsements from police leaders and the border patrol union, which also backed the Senate immigration and foreign aid deal.

Perhaps where the candidates have been more closely aligned is their stance on Israel. Both have actively been engaging New York's Jewish community as Israel carries out a war in Gaza following the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7.

Suozzi set himself apart from some Democrats by announcing his support for the Republican-led standalone aid bill for Israel.

He said while he would prefer a bipartisan comprehensive package he is committed to doing whatever it takes to stand with Israel. That bill failed in the House.

Suozzi was particularly critical of Biden's age on the eve of the election.

'The bottom line is he's old,' Suozzi told a local news anchor. 'I know 81-year-old people that are in good shape and I know 81-year-olds that are not in great shape. He's old and there's no question about it.'

There's a 'debate as to whether [Biden's] going to stick it out or not,' he added.

Suozzi was noncommittal when asked whether he would support President Biden in the 2024 election, saying he would 'likely' support the president but he would wait to 'see what happens.'

But the Biden campaign came out touting Suozzi's victory Tuesday night.

Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said 'Donald Trump lost again' in a statement.

'When Republicans run on Trump’s extreme agenda – even in a Republican-held seat – voters reject them,' she said. She went on in her statement that the former president and 'MAGA extremists in the House are already paying the political price for derailing a bipartisan deal to secure our borders and fix our broken immigration system.'

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 12131,

That is something that I have been concerned about for quite a while now! This November will be absolutely CRITICAL if the conservatives wish to hold this country together and repair the damage already done over the past 3 years!

quote:

Originally posted by bronicabill:
That is something that I have been concerned about for quite a while now! This November will be absolutely CRITICAL if the conservatives wish to hold this country together and repair the damage already done over the past 3 years!

Agreed, but it also underscores the need to put the best candidates forward. The middle won’t just vote for anyone with an “R” next to their name because they are frustrated. That was proven decisively in 2022, and was on display again in this race in Long Island. Suozzi had big time name recognition, and it was going to take a great candidate to beat him. That wasn’t what that district got. They wanted more than a former Democrat who had a few Republican ideas but wasn’t really a Republican. It was going to take a great candidate to beat Suozzi and unfortunately that wasn’t what folks in Long Island got.

There needs to be a way to take money out of politics. Yeah I know it’s not going to happen. I’m afraid with the amount of money laundering and corruption of today’s politics that’s what it comes down to in a lot of cases like this one were the Democrat spent 2x on advertising.

I also think they need to figure out something with abortion. Women have spoken and if you look at the countries voting without women the Democrats would never win another election. With women voting les and less Republicans are going to win every year because more and more women are voting and are the single greatest collection of people who will be single issue voters. Even if I disagree they are going to lose being able to govern the country over a single issue.

What this tells me is that half the population is happy with the current state of the country - overrun borders, crime, inflation, corruption.

They voted to keep all of the above in place because peace and prosperity are entirely unappealing to them.

Send more illegals their way and let’s drown the bastards in what they hold near and dear.

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
What this tells me is that half the population is happy with the current state of the country - overrun borders, crime, inflation, corruption.

They voted to keep all of the above in place because peace and prosperity are entirely unappealing to them.

Send more illegals their way and let’s drown the bastards in what they hold near and dear.

I take it as there are more idiots voting for a living than there are people working for a living who care about this country. The combination of stupidity, crooked media, and toxic social media empower the dems to act the way they do.

All the liberal cities should have thousands of illegals dumped there. Let the animals sort it out against one another.

There are 14 congressional districts currently represented by Republican congressmen that Biden won in the last election. Source:
ttps://ballotpedia.org/U.S._House_districts_represented_by_a_Republican_in_2022_and_won_by_Joe_Biden_in_2020

Democrats plan on spending millions in these districts in the next election to flip them to the Demokrats. According to a report I saw on the news Suozzi was told he could be as critical as he wants of Biden and his policies, just win the election. That's exactly what he did.

I saw a Republican commentator mention that he knows from his sources that Trump has already said that he is doing the exact opposite. Any candidate that is not sufficiently loyal to Trump will receive no support from the Republican party controlled by Trump. As we know, those who vote in primaries are not the same as those who vote in the general election. The commentator mentioned that he knows at least two of the 14 are already going to receive primary challenges from Trump supported candidates. The commentator mentioned that if the Trump challengers win and run on a platform of Trump loyalty, they stand no chance of winning the general. Regardless of what the Republicans say, the Democrats will tie the Republicans to Trump the person, not the Trump policies.

Some may say that if a Republican who is not sufficiently loyal to Trump loses, so what. It's no loss anyway since RINOs are no better than Demokrats. But the fact is that if Republicans lose the House, they lose a lot. For one, they will no longer be able to issue any subpoenas.

Maybe run actual Republicans. That'd be a good place to start.

quote:

Originally posted by Fed161:
Any candidate that is not sufficiently loyal to Trump will receive no support from the Republican party controlled by Trump.

Which is some seriously third-world bullshit, and the reason I hate the ego/cult-of-personality cloud that seems to swirl around PDJT's endorsements. It completely ignores the practical realities of governing; you have to be elected in order to govern, and to have a fighting chance at meaningful governance you (the executive) need to have your party firmly in control of the legislature. Those are LOCAL elections driven by LOCAL issues and candidates.

For all the Democratic idiocy, they at least have a firm grasp on "party discipline" and the importance of holding the majority, with all of those benefits.

I want Trump in the White House, but I'd like it WAY more if his policies had a chance of surviving past his term of office. That doesn't happen through executive action, but through legislative successes.

Other that being able to block some really bad Democrat legislation, the Republicans have done a poor job with their time as the majority.

They really need to reassess their positions so they can pick up the seats needed to get the important legislation across the finish line.

Sad state of affairs that the only reason to have them in control of anything is that the Democrats are even worse.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If the Republicans who are in swing districts are not given the space to say anything the slightest bit critical of Trump (without losing the support of the national Republican party and it's financial support - or getting primaried) the Democrats will regain the House - by a wide margin. The Democrats have given their candidates free reign to run their campaigns as they see fit. Bad mouth Biden. Disagree with his policies. No problem. Just one goal - win. Are the Republicans going to do that - no chance.

quote:

If the Republicans who are in swing districts are not given the space to say anything the slightest bit critical of Trump (without losing the support of the national Republican party and it's financial support - or getting primaried) the Democrats will regain the House - by a wide margin. The Democrats have given their candidates free reign to run their campaigns as they see fit.

1. the national Republican party and it's financial support? Seriously? The RNC has little to no money. There will be no national Republican financial support for House districts.
2. candidates do have free reign to run their campaigns as they see fit.

Having said that, the RNC is focused on:

Vote Early: Bank Your Vote, Protect Your Vote
https://www.bankyourvote.com/

Stand up for election integrity

Republicans across the country have been fighting to make sure your vote is safe and secure – but the work is never done. We are working in key states to make sure your vote is protected. If you want to be part of this critical mission to ensure Republicans win in 2024, sign up to be an Election Integrity volunteer in your state.
https://protectthevote.com/

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:

I'd like to see that same map showing SNAP/Welfare beneficiaries vs actual tax payers. Personally, I think we need to find a way to bar those getting government assistance because most will always vote for the guy that gives out free shit. Maybe something like receiving benefits for 12 out of 24 months and you're not allowed to vote in upcoming elections. It'll never happen, but a man can dream

We should have just suspended the crazy lying homo from NY instead of booting him, pending the investigation that would have kept the seat vacant and not populated the Dem side.

1. the national Republican party and it's financial support? Seriously? The RNC has little to no money. There will be no national Republican financial support for House districts.
2. candidates do have free reign to run their campaigns as they see fit.

1. You're right. I agree. But if the party's financial situation does improve as we approach the election, will the party give whatever limited funds they may have to candidates who may say a few things critical of Trump. I don't think so. These swing districts are the ones we need to win to hold the House.

2. I think you're also right. However, if they do criticize Trump, they run the risk of Trump publicly bad mouthing them, which isn't going to help them in the general. They are going to need all the votes they can get.

quote:

Originally posted by mutedblade:

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:

I'd like to see that same map showing SNAP/Welfare beneficiaries vs actual tax payers. Personally, I think we need to find a way to bar those getting government assistance because most will always vote for the guy that gives out free shit. Maybe something like receiving benefits for 12 out of 24 months and you're not allowed to vote in upcoming elections. It'll never happen, but a man can dream

I could be on board with that but it’s probably not legal and the number of voters isn’t as big. By looking at that graph it’s obvious women are single issue voters and have fully bought into the “my body my choice”. Just wait and see as we get closer to the election how hard that one issue is pushed. The Democrats realize it’s a hot button issue and the number one reason women vote for the Democratic Party.


Just think what the election results would show if the Republicans got half the women to vote for them. The Democrats would never win another election.

Ken Buck of CO to resign on 3/22/24

By Stepheny Price , Chad Pergram | Fox News
Published March 12, 2024 2:32pm EDT

Colorado GOP Rep. Ken Buck announced Tuesday that he will resign from the House by the end of next week.

Buck told Fox News he will remain a member until the end of the day on March 22. That same day is also the deadline for the next batch of spending bills to avoid a shutdown.

In a brief statement Tuesday morning, the Republican said his terms in office were an honor and that he is looking forward to staying involved in politics.

"It has been an honor to serve the people of Colorado’s 4th District in Congress for the past 9 years," Buck wrote. "I want to thank them for their support and encouragement throughout the years. Today, I am announcing that I will depart Congress at the end of next week. I look forward to staying involved in our political process, as well as spending more time in Colorado and with my family."

Colorado Governor Jared Polis also released a statement following Buck's announcement, thanking him for his years of service to the state.

"I thank Ken for his years of public service to Colorado. From his time as Weld County District Attorney to his time in Congress, he has shown his deep commitment to improve public safety and to serve our nation. I wish him all the best in this next chapter," Governor Polis said.

Buck has served in the House of Representatives since November 2014 and is currently assigned to the House Judiciary Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee.

Two weeks ago, Buck introduced a resolution that calls on Vice President Harris and the Cabinet to remove President Biden through the 25th Amendment, citing Biden’s mental and physical health.

Buck was also one of three House Republicans who opposed the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Buck previously announced he was not running for another term. His resignation will squeeze the GOP's majority even more.

The breakdown will be 431 members with 218 Republicans and 213 Democrats. Now, the GOP will only be able to lose two votes of their own on any given issue.

The next special election is for the seat occupied by former Rep. Brian Higgins, D-N.Y., on April 30.

If that seat stays in Democrat hands, the new breakdown is 432 members with 218 Republicans and 214 Democrats. That would mean the margin would effectively be one seat for the GOP.

Flip two votes, and you have a tie, and by rule, tie votes lose in the House.

A special election to succeed former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is set for May 21.