Tom Suozzi win a 'blueprint' for Democrats nationally, Hochul says

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday said Tom Suozzi’s victory in a special congressional election on Long Island gives Democrats a “blueprint” for winning contests nationally this fall.

Focus on Republican support for a national abortion ban and their “failure to do anything about immigration and the migration problem,” she said.

“Those were issues Tom could run on and say this is why Republicans are incapable of leading,” the Democratic governor said during an interview hosted by Politico at the National Governors’ Association meeting in Washington, D.C.

Last week, Democrat Suozzi defeated Republican candidate Mazi Melesa Pilip in a special election to replace the now-expelled Republican George Santos in the Nassau County-based 3rd Congressional District. The outcome reduced the GOP’s advantage in the U.S. House to six.

Hochul also told Politico she would use her power to help Democrats retake the House, blamed GOP congressional members for not supporting a foreign aid package to support both Ukraine and Israel, and criticized Republicans in Congress for sinking the immigration deal after former President Donald Trump expressed opposition.

In response, New York Republican spokesman David Laska said: “Democrats won that special election thanks to the highly irregular circumstances that brought it about. Republicans will win it back in November thanks to [President] Joe Biden and Democrats' dangerous and appalling open-borders, soft-on-crime policies.”

Hochul, asked if a Democratic moderate like Suozzi was a “blueprint” for the party this fall, said: “The blueprint came down to the issues he ran on.”

One would be abortion. Trump, during his term as president, appointed U.S. Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade and made abortion rights a state-by-state issue. Recently, reports said Trump backs a national ban on abortions after 16 weeks of pregnancy with some exceptions.

Another would be the tanking of a potential bipartisan deal on immigration, migrants and border security.

Hochul blamed House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and the “failure of the 10 Republicans who represent the state of New York to do anything.”

She said the 10 — who, by and large, blame Biden for migration issues — should have formed a coalition to push GOP leadership for a deal rather than publicly call for meetings with her.

“Stop weaponizing every single issue … Do something first. Don't just come into my office and grandstand,” Hochul said.

That said, Hochul added “common sense regulations at the border” were needed. Specifically, lawmakers should look at avenues for asylum-seekers, implying those might be tightened “because they are more expansive than in the past.”

By Yancey Roy

yancey.roy@newsday.com@yanceyroy