The 2024 New York's 3rd congressional district special election was held on February 13, 2024, to fill the vacant seat in New York's 3rd congressional district for the remainder of the 118th United States Congress. The seat became vacant after the expulsion of Republican George Santos on December 1, 2023. Considered a suburban swing seat, political analysts predicted a competitive and expensive election for both parties. The early voting period ran from February 3 to February 11, 2024.
Republicans nominated Nassau County legislator Mazi Melesa Pilip, while Democrats nominated Tom Suozzi, the former U.S. representative for this district and Santos's predecessor. Suozzi defeated Pilip, reclaiming the seat for Democrats. This was the first time that a New York congressional seat changed parties in a special election since 2011.
Republican George Santos was elected to Congress in 2022 from New York's 3rd district. Weeks later, The New York Times reported that he had misrepresented his background during the campaign. Santos confirmed the allegations against him were true soon after, but refused to resign from his seat. After a formal inquiry by the House Ethics Committee, he was expelled from the House of Representatives on December 1, 2023, by a vote of 311 to 114. At the time of the expulsion, he was indicted on 23 federal charges related to fraud. Santos was the first representative to be expelled in two decades and the first since the Civil War to be expelled before any criminal conviction.
New York does not use primary elections when filling vacancies. Instead, party officials in the affected counties (in this case, Nassau and Queens) are responsible for choosing nominees.
Democrats selected Tom Suozzi as the party's nominee on December 7, 2023. He had previously represented the district in the House from 2017 to 2023. Before that, he served as the Nassau County executive and the mayor of Glen Cove, and had run for governor in 2006 and 2022.
On December 14, 2023, Republicans selected Mazi Melesa Pilip as their nominee to replace Santos. She previously served in the Israel Defense Forces, and has represented the 10th legislative district in the Nassau County Legislature since 2022. She was a registered Democrat who held office as a Republican.
New York allows fusion voting in elections, prompting minor parties to nominate candidates on their ballot lines. The Conservative Party of New York State nominated Pilip. Suozzi declined to seek the support of the Working Families Party, despite having accepted the party's nomination in past election cycles.
News 12 Long Island hosted a debate between Suozzi and Pilip on February 8, 2024. Suozzi's campaign had proposed additional debates to be hosted by WABC-TV, WNBC, and NY1. However, Pilip declined to participate in any of them, telling The Jewish Star that she did not have much time for debates given the short campaign schedule.
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