Tom Suozzi’s victory in New York might give Democrats a way to address immigration : NPR

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

We begin with what could be good news for Democrats. Now, one single election does not a trend make. But does Democrat Tom Suozzi’s victory in the special election for New York’s third congressional district – does it mean something bigger for Democrats? The congressman won the seat, which until recently had been held by disgraced Republican George Santos, by diving head-on into an issue that Democrats would usually rather avoid – immigration – like in January, when his opponent, Mazi Pilip, held an event at a migrant shelter in Queens and blamed Suozzi for the border crisis.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MAZI PILIP: He created this problem. He supported President Biden 100% of the time.

KELLY: When Suozzi learned of the event, he drove straight to the shelter and held his own press conference.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TOM SUOZZI: Press conference that was just held, so I thought it was important that I come here and just rebut some of the things that she brought up directly.

KELLY: Is this the opening chapter in a playbook other Democrats might use to deal with the thorny political issue of immigration? That’s a question we’re going to put to NPR senior editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro. He’s in New York. Hey, Domenico.

DOMENICO MONTANARO, BYLINE: Hey, Mary Louise.

KELLY: So walk us through exactly how Suozzi approached the immigration issue and particularly compared to other Democrats.

MONTANARO: Yeah. He really decided that you have to take this issue head-on. He tacked toward the middle. He called for the border to largely be shut down, came out in support of the bipartisan congressional compromise that was derailed by Trump and the hard right.

KELLY: And Pilip, his opponent?

MONTANARO: Well, she came out against the bipartisan compromise, really sort of playing to the Trump side of things, which then played into what Democrats wanted to do in painting her as extreme.

KELLY: OK, so just get specific. What is noticeable about Suozzi’s approach as compared to other Democrats on immigration?

MONTANARO: Yeah, I mean, this was a real potential roadmap – what he did on immigration because, you know, other Democrats who are looking to win in the suburbs, this is something that they were nervous about it coming after them. You know, because Republicans have really tried on a host of other issues – education, crime, now immigration – understandable they would try immigration – but they really haven’t been able to turn the tide. They’ve had this advantage on immigration in the polls. Biden doesn’t fare well on his handling of it at all. But what Democrats hear was not dismiss or avoid immigration in this race – or the economy, by the way, for that matter. I’d say it’s a little bit of like a Bill Clinton strategy – feel your pain, come up with solutions – that the middle might find pretty reasonable.

KELLY: What about other issues? Did he try a similar approach on things like abortion, for example?

MONTANARO: Well, what would Democrats really tried to do was focus on Pilip’s record, her ethics, and abortion was also, like, the other major issue that wound up being aired across this district. And it wasn’t just in this district. I mean, we had another election in Pennsylvania where Democrats held the state House, and there was a local legislator there who wound up winning his race and cited abortion as a key issue for what his constituents wanted. And, you know, Democrats in this race used Pilip saying that she was pro-life, accused her of wanting to push for a policy with no restriction, which echoes the national Republican Party platform. And they leaned into this message about Pilip being an ethical nightmare, as they said, and an embarrassment. Listen to this attack ad.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: Same story, new name – Mazi Pilip’s about to embarrass us again, refusing to answer questions, subpoenaed to testify about unpaid bills from her family’s business.

MONTANARO: So, you know, really dropping the oppo book on her. In the beginning of that ad when they said – same story, new name – they had shown George Santos’ face. And it really did wind up hurting her in this race.

KELLY: So let’s land on the question that I put to you at the beginning. Has Suozzi figured out something of a playbook that other Democrats running other races might use?

MONTANARO: Well, partially, I think he did. You know, I think that for lack of better phrasing, when you talk about the suburbs, it really comes down to normal versus extreme. And Democrats have done a pretty good job with that framing. You know, they made this race into a painting of their candidate as sort of the adult in the room willing to compromise against the Republican MAGA extremist who isn’t. That’s worked lots of times, especially in this era of Trump. He’s very unpopular in the suburbs. Republicans haven’t figured out how to get the message or the messengers right in these areas that are often also swing areas.

And on the issues – on the messaging for Democrats, something like immigration, like the economy, where their back is a little bit against the wall, where they’re a little bit defensive, Suozzi showed that there is a way to thread that needle and to be able to talk about it in a strong way. But they have to have policies that tack toward the middle that can resonate with those voters.

KELLY: NPR’s Domenico Montanaro in New York. Thanks, Domenico.

MONTANARO: Yeah, you’re welcome.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.