#ny-03

Apparently the GOP House repealed those parts of the Bible related to worshiping false gods. Move over, Baal!

A reminder for voters in NY-03. The special election to replace fabulist Republican George Santos is on Tuesday the 13th. Early voting takes place now through Sunday the 11th. Electing Democrat Tom Suozzi would reduce GOP Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson's majority to a handful. Don't delay making sure that people you know in NY-03 make it to the polls. The district includes parts of eastern Queens in NYC and much of suburban Nassau County.

I ❤️ NY-03!

Democrats have not won a major election in suburban Nassau County since Biden took the area in 2020. NY-03 is mostly in Nassau County and was famously won by Republican fabulist George Santos in 2022. It was Santos's ouster from the House which led to this special election.

So Democrat Tom Suozzi easily defeated his GOP opponent Mazi Pilip on Tuesday by a margin similar to Biden's win in 2020.

Republicans sought to use immigration against Democrats in this election – and failed.

William Kristol and Andrew Egger observed at The Bulwark:

Republicans pummeled Suozzi on immigration with waves of hyperbolic border-invasion ads. But in his three terms in Congress Suozzi had been, for a Democrat, something of a border hawk. And he had plenty of money to portray himself as that. Indeed, he did so aggressively. When Republicans in Congress torpedoed the border bill, Suozzi attacked them for doing so and lamented that it would not now be able to expel “eighty percent” of asylum seekers and to stop migrants from flooding New York.

Yep, Republicans have been demanding border reform. When a viable bipartisan plan became a possibility in the US Senate, they shot it down on orders from adjudicated sex offender Donald Trump.

So now we have a Republican border crisis which Trump hopes will catapult his demented self back into the White House. But indications from NY-03 are that it probably won't work out for them.

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut was one of the senators who worked on the Senate bipartisan immigration reform which Trump sabotaged. Murphy sees the MAGA GOP flip-flop on the border as something which can be used against Republicans nationally.

Sen. Chris Murphy urges Democrats to follow Tom Suozzi and go on the offensive on the border

“Suozzi messaged aggressively on the issue, running ads that highlighted his support for a secure border and legal pathways to citizenship,” Murphy wrote. “He flipped the script on his Republican opponent, successfully painting her as unserious about border security because of her opposition to the bipartisan border bill, and turned what could have been a devastating political liability into an advantage.” Murphy acknowledged his frustration that after months of negotiating the bipartisan border security bill, Republicans in the Senate ultimately knifed it in a matter of days. But he said the GOP’s rejection of the bill provides Democrats with a way to counter GOP talking points on the border.

Back in NY-03, some Republican apologists tried to blame the 7.8% defeat of their candidate on the weather. The official NWS weather station at La Guardia Airport in Queens, next to NY-03, reported a grand total of 3.3 inches [8.38 cm] of snow on Tuesday. And the snow was over by 3 PM. In New York, polls are open until 9 PM. There was plenty of time for Republicans to sweep away the minor amount of snow from their sidewalks and get to their polling places. Don't let the GOP give you a snow job about their loss of a swing district.

It's time, once again, to choose a Republican Speaker of the House! 😳

It probably won't be George Santos. Like Donald Trump, he's ineligible because of criminal charges against him. Rep. Santos now faces 23 counts. He needs to work harder to catch up to Trump.

Read the updated indictment of Rep. George Santos

Another member of the House who many people think deserves to be indicted is Gym Jordan – one of the candidates for Speaker.

Former Ohio State University wrestlers say Jim Jordan betrayed them and shouldn't be House speaker

Jordan is a facilitator of sex abuse. Imagine the editorial cartoons of him as House Speaker.

It says a lot about the GOP that their least bad candidate for Speaker once called himself "David Duke without the baggage". Duke was once the "grand wizard" of the KKK.

House speaker contender Steve Scalise reportedly called himself ‘David Duke without the baggage’

Are you a high school senior who will be 18 years old by 13 February 2024 and who lives in George Santos's old district (NY-03)? You can make a big difference in the first US House election of 2024.

While Republican Santos won in NY-03 in 2022, Joe Biden carried this area in 2020 by a comfortable margin. The February special election is rated as a TOSSUP by pundits across the political spectrum.

With the expulsion of Santos, there are now 221 Republicans, 213 Democrats, and 1 vacancy in the US House. With the impending resignation of Kevin McCarthy, the GOP total will drop to 220; it's uncertain when a special election would take place for McCarthy's seat. So a Democratic victory in NY-03 in February would narrow the margin to 220 Republicans, 214 Dems, and 1 vacancy. And a victory in February would also give an advantage to Democrats in that district in the November general election.

The February election in NY-03 is being looked upon as a national bellwether. A Republican defeat would not bode well for Trump and his plans to become a dictator.

9,000 18-year-olds have an opportunity to register and vote in the election to fill George Santos’s vacant seat.  Most 18-year-olds in the district are not yet registered to vote. The third Congressional District includes parts of Queens and Nassau County. In these counties, only 6.4% and 18.5% of 16- and 17-year-olds, respectively, were preregistered to vote as of February 2023. The registration rates for 18-year-olds today are unlikely to be dramatically higher than these preregistration rates. 

You don't have to be 18 to register, but you must be 18 on or before Election Day to actually vote; that means February 13th for the NY-03 special election.

New York has relatively easy online voter registration, but you'll need a NY official ID to register.

Online Voter Registration | New York State Board of Elections

Personally, I think it's a good idea to register in person. The clerks can directly answer any questions you have without having to go through a complicated menu. Plus it feels like a rite of passage when you do it in person. You also have the advantage of getting some sort of hard copy receipt which can be useful if there's an electronic glitch.

For a map to find the cities and town in the district, click here.Then ask everyone you know in the district to make sure they are registered to vote and that everyone in their family has registered, as well. 

This is a general map. NY-03 covers parts of Queens and Nassau County – but not all of Queens and Nassau County.

This site is best known for letting people know who their state legislators are. But if you scroll down a bit on the left to Federal it will tell you which congressional district you're in.

^^^ So they haven't removed Santos from the search results. But the important thing is that it shows you're in the 3rd US House district in New York.

Of course any US citizen over 18 in NY-03 can vote in the February election. So share this information with anybody who you think isn't registered or has moved since the last election.

A special election has been set for February 13th to fill the vacancy in NY-03 left by George Santos's expulsion from the US House of Representatives. The winner of this election will serve until early January of 2025.

There will not be a primary for the February special election. Party leaders will choose the candidates. Democrats have already chosen former Rep. Tom Suozzi as their candidate. Suozzi gave up his seat for an unsuccessful run for NY governor in 2022. He previously represented much of the largely suburban area which is now in NY-03.

Republicans are having a much harder time finding a candidate for the February election. As of Friday evening, they still don't have one.

An individual who has put himself forward as a possible GOP candidate in the regular November 2024 election in NY-03 is one of the pro-Trump terrorists who attacked the US Capitol on 06 January 2021.

A man who has filed to run in 2024 for the seat held, up until last Friday, by ex-Rep. George Santos (R-NY) was found guilty of crimes related to the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol this week. Philip Sean Grillo, a 49-year-old man from Queens who in May filed the paperwork to run for office in New York’s 3rd Congressional District, was found guilty of “felony obstruction of an official proceeding and other charges related to his conduct during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol,” the Department of Justice announced in a news release this week. Grillo, who was arrested in February 2021, was not only accused of entering and exiting the building several times — including once through a broken window near the Senate wing door — he was also accused of pushing up against police as he carried a megaphone throughout the riot and was recorded on video saying, “I’m here to stop the steal” and “it’s our fucking House!” He also took time to get high during the attack.

Grillo certainly has the type of mentality to be a House Republican.

Grillo also recorded videos of himself during the riot and smoked weed inside the building. Grillo proceeded to enter and exit the Capitol three more times and can be seen in multiple instances pushing up against police officers,” DOJ said in the news release. “In another recording from his cell phone, he can be seen smoking marijuana inside the Capitol. In this video, Grillo stated, among other things, ‘Our House!’ He asks, ‘Who’s smoking grass?’ and, ‘Can I get a hit it of that s—?’ Another video depicted Grillo high-fiving other rioters after smoking marijuana inside the Capitol.” During the trial, Grill claimed he had “no idea” that Congress met in the Capitol building — even though he is running for Congress — and his lawyers argued he was under the impression that he was allowed to behave how he did that day. Grill hasn’t yet been sentenced so it is unclear if he will still be able to run for Santos’ seat next year. It’s also not clear if he will be a candidate in the Feb. 13 special election to fill the seat, now that Santos has been expelled.

Republicans have a very small majority in the US House – and it could theoretically disappear even before the November election.

The year began with 222 Republicans and 213 Democrats in the chamber. Because of the expulsion of George Santos and the resignation of Kevin McCarthy, the GOP is down to 220.

Day by day, thanks to a combination of coincidence, scandal, health issues and political turmoil, the G.O.P. majority keeps getting smaller. This week, with lawmakers absent for medical reasons and the recent not-so-voluntary departures of the ousted former speaker Kevin McCarthy and the expelled Mr. Santos, the best G.O.P. attendance that Speaker Mike Johnson can muster as he tries to avoid a government shutdown is the bare-minimum 218 votes. That is before factoring in the impact of rough winter weather across the nation. Another Republican, Representative Bill Johnson of Ohio, is resigning as of Sunday to take a job as a university president, lowering the number to 217 if Representative Harold Rogers of Kentucky, the 86-year-old dean of the House, is unable to quickly return from recuperating from a car accident. Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 Republican, is out until at least next month while undergoing cancer treatment. As a result, the G.O.P. could soon be able to afford just a single defection on any matter if Democrats remain united and have no absences of their own.

Bill Johnson's departure will bring the official GOP total down to 219. And though they are still House members, Scalise and Rogers are not able currently to attend the House due to health conditions.

Speaker Mike Johnson needs to rely increasingly on Democrats to get anything done because of truculent members of his own caucus.

Democrats say the recurring scenario of leaning on them for must-pass bills is proof that even though Republicans are the majority party on the tally sheet, they don’t have a working majority because of their diminished forces and constant internal squabbling. “When anything hits the fan, they don’t have 218,” said Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the former longtime Democratic majority leader, referring to the number that represents a basic majority in the 435-member House. “They are not the majority party in this House.”

There's also the February 13th special election in NY-03 to replace George Santos. If Democrat Tom Suozzi defeats Republican Mazi Pilip, a de facto Trump supporter, the number of House Democrats will edge up to 214.

If you'd like to help Tom Suozzi and increase the possibility of a Democratic majority early, check out his campaign site.

Suozzi for Congress - Let's Fix This!

When you vote for Suozzi, you're effectively voting for a Democratic majority.

— Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY-03) who recently returned to Congress after flipping the district formerly held by fabulist George Santos. Quoted at POLITICO.

If you have made up your mind to do political work this year, especially grassroots precinct work, your first step should be to find out what people are thinking about.

In one-to-one conversations with voters, you should not be talking more than about a third of the time. Contrary to popular belief, not everybody responds to polls or is active on social media. Finding out what people are concerned about and relaying that information to the campaign helps the candidate formulate a response which addresses what worries voters.