Voters in eastern New York will know Tuesday evening whether the seat in the House of Representatives of George Santos, expelled from Congress for repeated lies, remains in the hands of the Republican Party or returns to the Democrats, nine months before the presidential election.
• Read also: An elected official for repeated lies expelled from the American Congress
This by-election to end Mr. Santos’ term until January — after his expulsion from the chamber in December — has national resonance since the Republican majority there is very thin.
In the New York district which includes part of the borough of Queens and Nassau County on the Long Island peninsula, Democrat Tom Suozzi faces Republican Mazi Pilip.
AFP
Many voters have already voted in recent days, but a snowstorm which paralyzes New York and its suburbs on Tuesday risks lowering participation. Tom Suozzi’s campaign team offered residents who were stuck at home a ride to the polling stations.
“There is a good chance that Tom Suozzi will win (…), but it is a complicated election,” democratic consultant Amit Bagga told AFP.
Replicating the campaign themes of the looming November presidential election between former President Donald Trump and his successor Joe Biden, Ms. Pilip and Mr. Suozzi argued over immigration and abortion.
Mazi Pilip has a unique background: Orthodox Jew, mother of seven children, she was born in Ethiopia in 1978 or 1979, before emigrating to Israel in 1991, serving in the armed forces of the Hebrew State then emigrating to the United States and acquire its nationality.
MEGA/WENN
His opponent Tom Suozzi, 61, was the representative of this third district of New York before the election of George Santos in November 2022.
A young Republican elected official, George Santos distinguished himself by his repeated lies and was charged with financial crimes, before being impeached by Congress on December 1st.
A hundred Republicans and more than 200 Democrats voted to oust the thirty-year-old from the House of Representatives, where such a sanction has only been used five times in its history.
Following revelations from the New York Times, George Santos had to admit to having lied about entire parts of his life to embellish his CV. He had in fact never worked for the American banks Goldman Sachs or Citigroup or held a degree from New York University (NYU).
He was also charged with defrauding his donors as well as money laundering and fraud, charges to which he pleaded not guilty.
