Northeast
NY race to replace George Santos may be test for Republicans looking to keep House in November
Ex-George Santos staffer weighs in on election to replace him
GOP strategist Naysa Woomer, whose work includes stints with expelled Rep. George Santos and former Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration, spoke with Fox News Digital about the special election in New York’s 3rd Congressional district.
Early voting kicks off on Saturday for a suburban New York election that both Democrats and Republicans have been pouring millions of dollars into.
The race to replace expelled Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., in the Empire State’s 3rd Congressional District is being watched as a potential bellwether for Republicans’ chance of keeping the House of Representatives next year.
It’s between Republican Mazi Melesa Pilip, a Nassau County official, and former Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., who left his seat at the end of 2022 for an unsuccessful bid to primary Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“I think it’s anybody’s game at this point,” Naysa Woomer, Santos’ former communications director and a former aide to Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, told Fox News Digital. “Even though Tom Suozzi was the former member that represented NY-3 for quite some time, but it’s still a new ballgame — especially with Mazi Pilip…she’s a local legislator. I think that could give her a real leg up, just having that name recognition but at a local level.”
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National Republicans and Democrats are watching the race between Nassau official Mazi Melesa Pilip and former Rep. Tom Suozzi. (Getty Images)
The race is shaping up as a test run of whether House Republicans can overcome a chaotic term fueled by having a thin but highly divided majority. Nationally, Democrats have seized on the dysfunction, while Republicans seized on issues like the high cost of living and the border crisis, which polls have shown as top of mind for voters.
Pilip told Fox News Digital in an interview that her race, if successful, could be a roadmap for Republicans to keep the House.
“This is a special election, but it’s going to also give us a picture for the November 2024 election. So it is very important. It is about saving the country, it is about common sense government,” Pilip said. “We can’t lose this election.”
Some of Pilip’s most vocal backers in Congress are the New York Republicans who led the charge to expel Santos, including Long Island Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., who told Fox News Digital he was confident Republicans would keep the seat.
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“So there’s… four M’s as to how to win this election in NY-3 — message, money, manpower and, in this case, Mazi,” LaLota said. “We’re out front on the border, folks know that Republicans have common sense solutions that will help fix our border. The same on inflation — our economic policies… are the right things that provide the right solutions to the problems facing Long Island and Queens residents.”
But a Democratic operative familiar with the race suggested Suozzi, in addition to his attention to local issues, would have an edge with voters weary of what they see in the House GOP majority. That includes the many scandals Santos saw before being expelled over federal charges and a damning Ethics Committee report related to misuse of funds.
Rep. Nick Lalota, R-N.Y., is one of Pilip’s backers. (Getty Images)
“We are in a special election because the Republican Party repeatedly protected George Santos,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) spokesperson Ellie Dougherty told Fox News Digital, noting House GOP leaders’ silence amid a small faction’s calls to boot him.
However, LaLota denied that Santos would be an anchor for Republicans.
“George Santos is a knucklehead. Republicans know it. Democrats know it. Independents know it. We’re not shy about acknowledging that reality,” LaLota said. “We have been very straightforward and honest about it, and because we Long Island Republicans led the charge to remove him, I think we have a tremendous amount of credibility with the electorate.”
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The Democratic operative said the left’s message in the last stretch would emphasize Suozzi’s decades of political experience and bipartisanship, while hammering Pilip as inexperienced and unvetted — a bid to tie her to Santos.
But Pilip refuted those accusations on Friday, telling Fox News Digital her background was extensively searched in the wake of Santos, and added she was “very proud” of her history as an Israeli-American immigrant and Israeli Defense Force soldier.
She also accused Suozzi of being a “career politician,” painting himself as a moderate while voting for progressive policies while in the House.
Republicans are trying to tie Suozzi to progressives and President Biden. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
“Yes, he has the name recognition, but you know what, people remember him for his bad policies out there,” Pilip said.
The DCCC said of Pilip, “Mazi Pilip has nothing to say on issues that matter to voters. Even on immigration and border security, she only spews talking points her extreme Republican Party bosses give her… Meanwhile, Tom Suozzi has a long record of working with anyone to deliver for Nassau County and Queens.”
A spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee told Fox News Digital of the race, “Tom Suozzi and Joe Biden caused the migrant crisis that is wreaking havoc in New York, and voters have had enough. Mazi Pilip is a strong, formidable candidate who will stand up to Biden and stop the inflow of illegal migrants into New York.”
Fox News Digital tried several times to reach Suozzi’s campaign for comment but did not hear back.
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Robert Bryan is a licensed forester from Harpswell and author or co-author of numerous publications on managing forests for wildlife. Paul Larrivee is a licensed forester from New Gloucester who manages both private and public lands, and a former Maine Forest Service forester.
In November 2025, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved a conservation plan and forest management plan as mitigation for impacts from the NECEC transmission corridor that runs from the Quebec border 53 miles to central Maine.
As professional foresters, we were astonished by the lack of scientific credibility in the definition of “mature forest habitat” that was approved by DEP, and the business-as-usual commercial forestry proposed for over 80% of the conservation area.
The DEP’s approval requires NECEC to establish and protect 50,000 acres to be managed for mature-forest wildlife species and wildlife travel corridors along riparian areas and between mature forest habitats. The conservation plan will establish an area adjacent to the new transmission corridor to be protected under a conservation easement held by the state. Under this plan, 50% of the area will be managed as mature forest habitat.
Under the forest management plan, a typical even-aged stand will qualify as “mature forest habitat” once 50 feet tall, which is only about 50 years old. These stands will lack large trees that provide wildlife denning and nesting sites, multiple vegetation layers that mature-forest birds use for nesting and feeding habitats and large decaying trees and downed logs that provide habitat for insects, fungi and small mammals, which in turn benefit larger predators.
Another major concern is that contrary to the earlier DEP order, the final approval allows standard sustainable forestry operations on the 84% of the forest located outside the stream buffers and special habitats. These stands may be harvested as soon as they achieve the “mature forest habitat” definition, as long as 50% of the conserved land is maintained as “mature.”
After the mature forest goal is reached, clearcutting or other heavy harvesting could occur on thousands of acres every 10 years. Because the landowner — Weyerhaeuser — owns several hundred thousand acres in the vicinity, any reductions in harvesting within the conservation area can simply be offset by cutting more heavily nearby. As a result, the net
mature-forest benefit of the conservation area will be close to zero.
Third, because some mature stands will be cut before the 50% mature forest goal is reached, it will take 40 years — longer than necessary — to reach the goal.
In the near future the Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) will consider an appeal from environmental organizations of the plan approval. To ensure that ecologically mature forest develops in a manner that meets the intent of the DEP/BEP orders, several things need to change.
First and most important, to ensure that characteristics of mature forest habitat have time to develop it is critical that the definition include clear requirements for the minimum number of large-diameter (hence more mature) trees, adjusted by forest type. At least half the stocking of an area of mature forest habitat should be in trees at least 10 inches in diameter, and at least 20% of stands beyond the riparian buffers should have half the stocking in trees greater than or equal to 16 inches in diameter.
Current research as well as guidelines for defining ecologically mature forests, such as those in Maine Audubon’s Forestry for Maine Birds, should be followed.
Second, limits should be placed on the size and distribution of clearcut or “shelterwood” harvest patches so that even-aged harvests are similar in size to those created by typical natural forest disturbance patterns. These changes will help ensure that the mature-forest block and connectivity requirements of the orders are met.
Third, because the forest impacts have already occurred, no cutting should be allowed in the few stands that meet or exceed the DEP-approved definition — which needs to be revised as described above — until the 50% or greater mature-forest goal is reached.
If allowed to stand, the definitions and management described in the forest management plan would set a terrible precedent for conserving mature forests in Maine. The BEP should uphold the appeal and establish standards for truly mature forest habitat.
Human remains were discovered Wednesday in the water in Shirley, Massachusetts, and authorities suspect foul play.
Police in Shirley said in a social media post at 7:15 p.m. that they responded to “a suspicious object in the water near the Maritime Veterans Memorial Bridge on Shaker Road.” Massachusetts State Police later said the object was believed to be human remains.
The bridge crosses Catacoonamug Brook near Phoenix Pond.
The office of Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said a group of young people was walking in the area around 5:30 p.m. and “reported seeing what appeared to be something consistent with a body part in the water.”
Foul play is suspected, Ryan’s office said.
Authorities will continue investigating overnight into Thursday, and an increased police presence is expected in the area.
No further information was immediately available.
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