'Extreme' charges against Tom Suozzi, Mazi Pilip rejected in moderate 3rd District

Branding a political opponent “extreme” — on immigration, abortion or other issues — has become a go-to attack for Republicans and Democrats.

The high-stakes Feb. 13 special election in New York’s 3rd Congressional District was no exception. But the unique contours of the race and its district limited the tactic's effect, even in an age of deep polarization, according to political analysts.

Democrat Tom Suozzi’s decisive win to replace expelled GOP Rep. George Santos came despite Republicans’ efforts to paint him as extreme on immigration. Mailers and TV ads blamed him and President Joe Biden for the influx of migrants at the U.S. southern border. The Republican nominee, Mazi Melesa Pilip, frequently referred to the “Biden-Suozzi Open Border Policy.”

Suozzi’s long-standing reputation as a political moderate blunted the attacks. So did his efforts to go on the offensive, distancing himself from Biden and criticizing Pilip as extreme for not supporting a bipartisan U.S. Senate border security bill that was quickly spiked by the GOP-led House in early February. He said her failure to support it would endanger Israel's security, since a U.S. aid package for its war with Hamas was tied to the legislation.

Democrats tried to define the little-known Pilip, a second-term Nassau County legislator, as “extreme” on abortion rights. They cited her acceptance of the Conservative Party line and sidestepping of questions such as whether she’d support codifying abortion rights into federal law. 

Pilip had stated early on she wouldn’t support a national ban favored by some on the far right and that she wouldn't “force” her pro-life views on others.

Lobbing the extremist charge is too tempting to pass up when campaigning in a moderate district like the 3rd, said Christopher Malone, a political science professor and associate provost at Farmingdale State College. 

“Voters hate it,” Malone said. But, “In a district that is moderate, you're trying to paint your opponent as out of touch.”

The 3rd District covers Nassau's North Shore, dips south into Levittown and Massapequa and includes a portion of northeastern Queens. Suozzi, 61, of Glen Cove, who represented the district from 2017 to 2022, defeated Pilip, 44, of Great Neck, by nearly 8 percentage points. Neither responded to requests for comment for this story.

The margin was nearly identical to the 2022 race between Santos and Democrat Robert Zimmerman. Santos was expelled from Congress less than a year later following allegations he defrauded campaign donors for personal profit. He has pleaded not guilty to 23 federal criminal charges. 

Suozzi, set to be sworn in on Wednesday, will serve the balance of Santos' term and have to run for a full two-year term in November. 

While a special election typically draws fewer voters than a general election, those voters tend to be more politically knowledgeable, analysts said.

“The voters that are going to be turning out on both sides are going to be a little more sophisticated voters,” said Lisa Parshall, a professor of political science at Daemen University in upstate Amherst.

“With a special election, it maybe gave Suozzi a little more latitude to take attacks knowing voters could appreciate some nuance,” Parshall said. “He didn't run away from it, he confronted it.”

Proven playbook?

The playbook that Nassau Republicans turned to in the special election hadn't failed them in recent ones. 

Hot-button issues such as public safety, bail reform, migrants and affordability have helped them dominate since 2021, flipping multiple offices, including the 3rd and 4th Congressional districts. 

When Republicans started to hammer Democrats on issues such as crime, “I remember people called me a fearmonger,” Rep. Anthony D'Esposito, a Republican who won the 4th District in 2022, told an audience of Nassau Republicans last month.

As the special election campaign began, the GOP expected crime to again be an issue, joined this time by immigration.

“I’m running for Congress to slam the door on the extreme policies of Tom Suozzi and Joe Biden and secure our borders,” Pilip said on numerous occasions.

Her campaign spokesman called Suozzi “the godfather of the border crisis,” a line that Suozzi said evoked Italian-American stereotypes. She said he established the “first migrant center on the East Coast.”

She referred to his time as Glen Cove mayor, when day laborers crowded streets as they vied for jobs. The city worked with nonprofits to establish an indoor gathering spot for day laborers and offered them job training and English classes.

Republicans also latched onto Suozzi's 2018 quip that he was an “honorary member” of the Squad after the group of four progressive House Democrats faced social media attacks from then-President Donald Trump. 

The suggestion that he was an “extreme” liberal Squad member, Suozzi told Pilip in their sole debate early this month, was “about as believable as you being a member of George Santos’ volleyball team.” The reference was to one of Santos' claims that he starred on the volleyball team of the college he never attended. 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Queens), a Squad member, disputed the comparison as “laughable.”

“To claim something like that in a backyard that knows him, it really shows that they're reaching and they're pretty desperate to try to land a punch there,” she told CNN on election night.

Laura Curran, a former Democratic Nassau County executive who served from 2018 through 2021, said 3rd District voters showed more caution.

“Yeah, Santos got one over on them, but in fact that sort of made them a little more careful in making their choice,” she said. “Don't assume that they're going to swallow everything that you're going to give them, even if it's an issue that they care about.”

Former Rep. Peter King, a Seaford Republican who served 28 years in the House before retiring in 2020, said both sides engaged in “tough rhetoric.”

Nassau Republican chairman Joseph Cairo defended the party's campaign.

“We didn't fabricate anything, we didn't lie,” Cairo said, adding that Democrats misrepresented Pilip's stances on abortion. 

Democrats also tried tactic

One of the earliest attacks on Pilip was the contention that she was “hand-picked” by some of the national GOP's most “extreme” conservatives. A television ad flashed pictures of Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Lauren Boebert of Colorado.

Pilip was chosen by Cairo, who backed her bids for county legislator, and Queens GOP chairman Tony Nunziato.

And in a district where Trump remains polarizing, Democrats labeled Pilip, a registered Democrat, as a “MAGA” supporter who dodged questions about gun control and abortion rights and would vote against both if elected.

A Democrat-backed ad featured her comment, “I am pro-life,” but excluded her saying she wouldn't force her views on others. 

The ads ran counter to Pilip's stated opposition to the use of assault weapons by civilians and a national abortion ban. She declined to say whether she supported a ban on semiautomatic assault weapons, such as AR-15s. 

“She’s just taking these extreme positions and being led around by the party leaders both from Washington and locally,” Suozzi said during their debate.

At a Sunday forum last month at The Chabad of Oyster Bay, Pilip said her opponents were “picturing me the most extreme human being."

“I made it so clear,” she said of her position on abortion.

Labeling an opponent “extreme” has its limits, said Malone, the Farmingdale professor. But “it works better when your opponent is not well known among the electorate,” he added.

“That's when you really hammer them,” he said, “because you're trying to define them for the voter, and not let them define themselves.”