Tom Suozzi and Mazi Melesa Pilip: Where they got their votes in Congress race

Democrat Tom Suozzi won the 3rd Congressional District special election by dominating in traditionally Democratic areas from Port Washington to Plainview, and faring better than expected in the Republican-leaning communities of Levittown and Farmingdale, a Newsday analysis of election board data shows.

Suozzi beat Republican-backed Mazi Melesa Pilip by 8 points in the district, which covers northeastern Queens, Nassau's North Shore and dips south to Levittown and Massapequa. 

In Nassau, home to 80% of district residents, Suozzi beat Pilip by 5 points. According to data from the Nassau County Board of Elections. His margin of victory in the Queens portion was 23%, New York City Board of Elections data shows.

Suozzi and Pilip ran up the score in different areas of the 3rd.

Suozzi captured two-thirds of the vote in Jericho, Plainview and Old Bethpage, and three-quarters of the vote in Port Washington, Nassau election board data shows. All are Democratic-leaning districts.

Pilip performed well across her home community of Great Neck, scoring more than 60% in various communities on the peninsula, including affluent villages on Long Island Sound. In Kings Point, she beat Suozzi 88% to 12%, and in Saddle Rock she won 90% of the vote. She got about two-thirds of the vote in Massapequa, North Massapequa and Massapequa Park, data shows.

“Even in areas that we didn’t do well in, we picked up more votes than we would’ve thought,” said Jay Jacobs, state and Nassau Democratic Chairman.

How CD3 voted

Democrat Tom Suozzi, of Glen Cove, defeated Republican-backed Mazi Melesa Pilip, of Great Neck, in the Feb. 13 special election to replace expelled Rep. George Santos in the 3rd Congressional District. With all districts reporting, Suozzi had about 54% of the vote to about 46% for Pilip.

Below are preliminary vote totals by precinct from the Nassau County and New York City boards of elections. Vote totals will be certified after military and absentee ballots are counted.

Jacobs said he believed Suozzi did well among the 30,547 independent voters who accounted for 21% of special election voters. “This time the unaffiliated voters went with us,” Jacobs said.

Former Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford), a vice chairman of the Nassau County Republican Committee who helped select Pilip to run, said: “She didn't do as well in the red districts as she should have, and he did better in some of the blue areas than we expected.”

Newsday based its analysis on preliminary vote totals by precinct from the Nassau County and New York City boards of elections. Vote totals will be certified after military and absentee ballots are counted.

Where both did well

Suozzi's widest margins of victory came in areas such as New Cassel, where he captured 90% of the vote, and Port Washington, where he beat Pilip 73% to 26%. In Plainvew, Old Bethpage and Jericho, Suozzi won by 64 to 36%, while in Westbury Suozzi won 69% to 31%.

Kim Keiserman, president of the Port Washington Democratic Club, said her group built a seasoned canvassing operation after Republican Donald Trump became president in 2017. Many in the club understood that, with the special election, “this is the time we have to come together and get this done. This is kind of make or break for Democrats on Long Island,” Keiserman said.

“It was really energizing to see how the rest of the country cared about this race. Usually in the past we’ve been the ones writing postcards to people in Georgia or Wisconsin,” in get-out-the-vote campaigns on behalf of Democrats. “To be receiving these postcards from people across the country, who cared about us and about Democrats, was incredibly energizing and mobilizing.” 

Pilip dominated in the Great Neck peninsula, part of the district she represents as a Nassau County legislator. In Great Neck, Great Neck Estates, Great Neck Gardens and Great Neck Plaza, Pilip garnered nearly 60% of the vote. She far outperformed expelled former GOP Rep. George Santos, who won the 3rd District in 2022 and was expelled from Congress Dec. 1. Santos beat Democrat Robert Zimmerman by 8 points in those communities in 2022, Nassau County Board of Election data shows.

“She's dedicated so much of her time to the public. People who know her voted for her,” said Great Neck Village Mayor Pedram Bral, who endorsed Pilip but acknowledged Suozzi's experience and name recognition.

Expectations

Pilip, as expected, dominated in the southeasternmost portion of the district, winning two-thirds of the vote in Massapequa, Massapequa Park and North Massapequa. But in East Massapequa, Suozzi got six more votes than Pilip, election returns show.

Suozzi partially neutralized Pilip's advantage in surrounding areas that also were expected to skew strongly Republican. Pilip received 53% of the total vote in Levittown, Plainedge, Bethpage, South Farmingdale, Farmingdale and Hicksville, with Suozzi winning narrowly in the latter two communities.

Suozzi's 6-point loss to Pilip in that area — where Suozzi is well-known from his days as Nassau County executive and as a former 3rd District congressman who fought for federal funds to clean up groundwater contamination — contrasts with Zimmerman's 37-point loss to Santos in the same communities in 2022.

In that higher turnout election, Santos was boosted by the strong top-of-the-ticket performance of GOP gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin.

In the special election, Suozzi also made inroads in the northern portion of Republican-run Oyster Bay. By slight margins, Suozzi won Mill Neck and Cove Neck. In Upper Brookville, Suozzi and Pilip tied with 239 votes apiece, while in 2022 Santos defeated Zimmerman by 60% to 40% — 423 votes to 287.

Farmingdale Village Mayor Ralph Ekstrand, a Republican who endorsed Suozzi, said Suozzi's experience and reputation as a moderate made him more appealing to people who otherwise may have voted Republican.

Ekstrand cited Suozzi's track record of delivering federal funds to 3rd District communities. Ekstrand called Pilip an unknown quantity who, like Santos, would quickly need to get up to speed. Santos was unsuccessful in his efforts to bring $11 million to Farmingdale Village for treating groundwater contamination, Ekstrand said.

“Do I want someone like that to get my $11 million grant, or do I want someone with no experience?” Ekstrand, said. “I need somebody to deliver for my residents.”

Early voting

Going into Election Day, Democrats had a 4,320-vote advantage over Pilip from the early voting period, Feb. 3-11, Nassau Board of Elections data show. In Queens, Democrats had a 3,060-vote edge.

Democrats' widest margin was in New Cassel, where 1,109 party members cast ballots at the Yes We Can Community Center, compared with 230 Republicans, a split of 70% to 14%. 

The most votes cast at a single early polling place — 8,278 — were logged at the Mid Island Y JCC in Plainview, where the split was 56% Democrat to 24% Republican.

Republicans accounted for 54% of the 7,293 voters at Massapequa Town Hall, while Democrats cast 25% of votes there. At the Oyster Bay Ice Rink in Bethpage, Republicans made up 49% of the 4,501 voters, while 27% were Democrats.

Democrats voted more heavily at Great Neck House, in Pilip's home community: 2,692 to 2,543. But many Pilip supporters, like the candidate herself, are registered Democrats.

Getting out the vote

At Republican headquarters in Franklin Square on Monday, elected officials from across the 3rd District made a strong get-out-the-vote push.

Nassau GOP Chairman Joseph Cairo introduced Oyster Bay Supervisor Joe Saladino, who lives in Massapequa, where his name appeared on campaign signs endorsing Pilip. 

“To my Italian friends, Mazi ends in a vowel,” Saladino told the crowd.

In December, Suozzi told Newsday about his plans for winning the 3rd District race, including dispatching of surrogates such as his wife Helene Suozzi to campaign for him.

Suozzi drew a map on a piece of paper, making circles around 16 different areas.

“The really tough area,” he said of Bethpage, the Massapequas, Levittown and Hicksville. “That's MAGA country.”

Of northern Great Neck, he said: “I'm going to get killed … ”

But Suozzi said the northern portion of Oyster Bay, is “a good base for me,” pointing to his hometown of Glen Cove, as well as Sea Cliff, Jericho, Syosset, Woodbury, Plainview and Old Bethpage.

“I can do very well there.”

Suozzi won all those communities, election data shows.