New York 3rd District special election: Suozzi projected to defeat Pilip for seat vacated by Santos
Democrats cut into Republicans’ already narrow House majority.
Democrat Tom Suozzi has won the special election in New York’s 3rd District, defeating Republican Mazi Pilip to flip a House seat from red to blue. (The seat was formerly held by Republican Rep. George Santos, who was expelled from Congress in December after a series of scandals.) As a result, Republicans’ already narrow House majority has been reduced to 219-213.
Throughout the night, 538 reporters, analysts and contributors have been live-blogging the results in real time and breaking down what (if anything) they mean for November. Read our full analysis below.
Latest headlines:
Sweet Victory
Valentine's Day came early with a election night ending before 11 p.m.
—Brittany Shepherd, ABC News
That extra seat is big for Democrats
With the win tonight, Democrats have narrowed Republicans’ House majority to 219-213. That means Republicans will only be able to afford three defections on votes going forward — otherwise votes will be tied 216-216 and not pass. In addition, Democrats now need to flip only four Republican-held seats in the 2024 election to take back the House.
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
ABC News has projected a winner
The ABC News decision desk is now affirming the calls from other sources, projecting that Tom Souzzi will win the race and flip a seat for the Democrats.
—G. Elliott Morris, 538
Pilip is conceding now
In a quick speech in front of supporters, Pilip said she'd called Suozzi and conceded the race. This outcome is not a huge surprise: Suozzi is a known entity and Pilip was a newer face who was outspent in the race.
—Monica Potts, 538
Answer: Biden being unpopular doesn't mean Democrats can't win
I think my main takeaway is that you can look at all of the issues that might look bad for Democrats — from Biden's low approval to voters worrying about immigration — and it just doesn't mean that Democrats can't win. There are so many forces at work. Voters are motivated to vote against Trump and the party that supports him, and see the Republican party as extreme on some issues, like abortion. It's something to keep in mind as we head into November. But otherwise, I agree with everyone else. Tonight was just one special election.
—Monica Potts, 538