Democrat Tom Suozzi’s win Tuesday in a New York special election will shrink House Republicans’ already narrow majority as both parties are set for a competitive election year.
Suozzi led Republican Mazi Melesa Pilip in the 3rd District race to replace expelled GOP Rep. George Santos by 8 percentage points — a bigger margin that pre-election polls predicted — with 93 percent of the votes counted Wednesday morning. But while special elections can garner lots of attention, they typically get lower turnout than regular elections. Turnout Tuesday, for example, was roughly two-thirds of what it was in the 3rd District in the 2022 midterms.
Nevertheless, Democrats were gleeful, and touted the win as one less seat they’ll need to flip in November to win back the House. The win also came in an area that had been trending toward Republicans in recent elections. But the results may not offer a clear prediction for how November will go.
