Democrat Tom Suozzi scored a nationally significant victory in the special election in New York for the seat of expelled former Rep. George Santos.
The significance is multi-faceted, but it might be easy to miss one key takeaway little talked about among the pundit-class: In a campaign dominated by border security, the election came immediately after two Republican partisan actions manipulating border issues, and voters had a chance to show they reject the games politicians play.
Before reviewing those two recent Republican manipulative actions, let’s note the apparent signal from voters: Americans are looking for lawmakers to focus on kitchen table issues, not on legislators trying to enhance their own power via political stunts. Shaking in their boots today are 17 other Republican congressional representatives who scored 2022 victories in districts that President Biden won in 2020.
We can acknowledge that there are multiple explanations for Suozzi’s 8-point win. He was the better-known candidate, having served the district in Congress for three terms from 2016 to 2022 before his failed gubernatorial candidacy that year.
Suozzi also backed reproductive rights, while Republican Mazi Pilip, his opponent, said she personally opposed them. Support for abortion has been a consistent electoral winner since the Supreme........