House Republicans and Democrats are pouring millions of dollars into the New York special election to replace former Republican Rep. George Santos in a race that could influence the balance of power in the lower chamber.
The Democratic-aligned House Majority PAC released its first TV ad on Tuesday targeting Republican candidate Mazi Pilip, particularly attacking her anti-abortion campaign platform. The ad is the first of several in the group’s $3.7 million TV campaign aiming to boost Democratic candidate Tom Suozzi.
The ad hits Pilip, a member of the Nassau County Legislature, for dodging questions from reporters about her campaign platform, echoing similar attacks from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which launched an ad against the Republican candidate earlier this month. The attacks follow through with previous vows from Democratic groups to play a heavy hand in the special election, seeking to chip away at the GOP’s already slim majority.
But Republicans are not giving up so easily. Outside groups aligned with the House GOP are also pouring money into the race, hoping to hold on to one of the seats they flipped in 2022 that was key to seizing control of the lower chamber.
The Congressional Leadership Fund announced a $2.3 million investment in the Empire State over the next two weeks, seeking to broadcast attack ads against Suozzi on TV, streaming, and digital platforms, as well as through mail fliers. Those ads home in on Suozzi’s voting record on immigration amid the surge of immigrants being transported to New York from the southern border.
The National Republican Congressional Committee is also hitting Suozzi over immigration, airing ads that show the former congressman voting against legislation that would alert authorities if an undocumented immigrant attempted to purchase a firearm.
The race to replace Santos is expected to be one of the most high-profile special elections this year. The seat opened up after the House voted to remove the former House Republican last year, making him only the sixth member of Congress to be expelled from the lower chamber.
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The special election is scheduled for Feb. 13 and will feature a showdown between Suozzi, who held the seat before launching an unsuccessful bid for governor in 2022, and Pilip, who is seen as a rising star in the party after she was elected to the Nassau County Legislature in 2021 on a platform largely focused on battling antisemitism and supporting Israel.
Whoever wins will carry out the rest of Santos’s term and be put in a good position to be reelected later in the year. The race is expected to be competitive, with the nonpartisan CookPoliticalReport rating it as a toss-up.