Election News, Gridlock in DC

Key Takeaways
  • The seat vacated with Republican George Santos's expulsion from the House of Representatives has returned to the Democrats with this week's victory of Tom Suozzi.
  • Suozzi had previously won the seat in 2020 before losing it to Santos in 2022; the district has a solid Republican machine but has generally gone for Democrats at the national level.
  • With the Presidents' Day recess, both houses of Congress will return just three days before the first of two government shutdown deadlines.

In politics, the biggest story of this week was the victory of former Representative Tom Suozzi in the seat vacated when George Santos was voted out of the House of Representatives.  In 2022, Santos flipped the seat from Democratic to Republican, but it became clear that his candidacy was built on a web of falsehoods creating the image of a person who didn’t exist. 

While New York is a solidly Democratic state, the Nassau County part of Long Island has long had a strong Republican machine that regularly elects Republicans to local offices.  But in national races, the district elected Democrats.  The seat went for Biden and Suozzi in 2020 before the flip to Santos in 2022.  Republicans were hopeful that the Southern border’s chaos, which has been shipped to New York City, would be a positive for Republicans. However, it seemed to have little impact on the race.

The win by Suozzi further eroded the Republican majority in the House, which now stands at 219 Rs to 213 Ds.  With tough issues such as funding the government and aid to Ukraine and Israel on the agenda, the close margin will pose a real challenge to Speaker Johnson and his leadership team.

The House and Senate are in recess to celebrate Presidents’ Day and are not expected to return to DC until February 28, only three days prior to the first of two government shutdown dates.  Tough decisions on both the military assistance and government funding will be front and center when Congress returns.

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