Plowing for votes on Long Island

With help from Shawn Ness

Blue hands and red noses are in the snow today as Democrat Tom Suozzi checked in on Twitter from the Republican stronghold of Massapequa amid the congressional special election to replace George Santos.

“The snow is melting and the roads are clearing,” Suozzi posted. “Good for voters…for snowmen, not-so-much.”

And for his Republican opponent, Mazi Pilip? Time will tell. Polls close at 9 p.m.

But it’s probably a relief for her too.

Conventional wisdom says the GOP needs a big showing on Election Day to make up the Democratic advantage in early and absentee voting (due, in part to standard-bearer Donald Trump’s previous criticism of voting by mail).

No one is taking the snow lightly. The Republican super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund, hired its own snow plows to clear the streets and make it easier to drive to the polls.

And not just any streets. “They’re plowing around key Republican precinct areas,” a CLF spokesperson told Playbook. The PAC hired multiple private companies to plow public streets. “Good illustration of how far we’re going to help with turnout today to win!"

The Democrats’ equivalent, House Majority PAC, did not hire snow plows, a spokesperson told Playbook.

But that doesn’t mean all the Democrats were snowed in. Nassau County is Republican controlled, but County Executive Bruce Blakeman — a Pilip supporter — promised Playbook that his government crews were plowing the same way they always do, just earlier, to accommodate polls opening at 6 a.m.

“We have a grid. We work off the GPS. And there have been no complaints of any fooling around with the plowing or the salting,” he said. “We don't get involved in stuff like that here.”

Suozzi supporters were nervous — “Of course