Democrats see New York election win as model for tackling immigration issue

Weeks before Tuesday’s special House election in New York, Republican Mazi Pilip held a press conference outside a migrant shelter in Queens to assail Democrats’ handling of the humanitarian crisis at the US-Mexico border that has led tens of thousands of people to seek refuge in the state.

Moments later, her opponent, Democrat Tom Suozzi, arrived on the scene and staged a rival press conference, during which he sought to “talk about this immigration crisis that is affecting so many families” and “rebut” some of Pilip’s claims.

Suozzi defeated Pilip 54%-46% in the fiercely contested race to replace the Republican congressman George Santos, the serial fabulist who was expelled from Congress in December after he was charged with more than 20 counts of fraud.

Immigration was a central issue in the campaign for this Long Island-based congressional district, where an increase of tens of thousands of people has strained resources in New York City and fueled angst among residents of the suburban battleground.

Suozzi’s decisive victory, Democrats say, presents their party with a formula for overcoming one of Joe Biden’s biggest political vulnerabilities and confronting Donald Trump’s core campaign message in America’s looming – and historically important – presidential election.

“Like Suozzi, Democrats can and should go on the offense on the border. Everywhere,” wrote Senator Chris Murphy, who served as the lead Democratic negotiator on a bipartisan border bill abandoned by Republicans. “Republicans’ idiotic decision to kill the bipartisan border bill is a huge opening. Suozzi saw it, and he flipped a seat.”

Stretching across Nassau county and into Queens, New York’s third congressional district is viewed as a political bellwether for