Biden-district Republicans shrug off New York special election loss

WASHINGTON — Vulnerable Republicans are downplaying the implications of a House special election victory for Democrats this past week, even though it occurred in a district that typically mirrors the national environment, calling the result a product of unique circumstances and not a sign of things to come this fall.

Democrat Tom Suozzi won a suburban New York district that President Joe Biden carried in 2020 and flipped to former GOP Rep. George Santos in 2022. But as a buoyant Democratic Party says it’s a harbinger for the upcoming fight for control of the House, a quartet of other Republicans in districts Biden won told NBC News they’re not worried they will suffer the same fate in their re-election bids.

Suozzi’s “profile is similar to me, on the other side. He knows how to reach in the middle. He criticizes his own party on occasion. He’s willing to take on some of his own guys, and I think the middle-of-the-road voters respond to that,” said Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., a top target of Democrats who represents an Omaha-based swing district.

“I have a similar profile in my own district where I’m my own guy,” Bacon said. “And I think Tom Suozzi’s a formidable candidate. That’s the bottom line. That’s probably the number-one thing.”

Bacon and other Republicans contend that Suozzi — a former congressman for six years who left in 2022 to launch a failed bid for governor — benefited from high name recognition, cash advantages and an Election Day snowstorm that hurt turnout.

Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., a freshman who represents a neighboring Long Island district that also voted for Biden in 2020, said Republican Mazi Pilip’s loss was “disappointing,” but vowed that the party will “be back” in November.

“This is an