Queens votes in snowy special election
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Queens and Long Island residents cast their votes in the special election for the New York 3rd Congressional District on Tuesday despite the snowy weather.Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
By Ryan Schwach
The special election for New York’s 3rd Congressional District was held Tuesday, as voters headed to the polls to cast their ballots in an election potentially with national implications – and one that comes after a national embarrassment.
However, to make their pick in the race, Queens and Long Island voters needed to brave the strongest winter storm the area has seen in more than three years.
As voters in Whitestone trickled into the polls at P.S 193 to vote for either Democrat Tom Suozzi or Republican Mazi Pilip, snow also began to trickle down, coating the sidewalk and streets outside the public school.
The snow storm prompted the city to close its schools, but that didn’t stop some voters from showing up.
“No matter what, even if there was an accumulation, we would have managed to get here,” said Susan Hamilton, who told the Eagle she would be voting for Suozzi, a Glen Cove native who served the 3rd District four six years prior to the election of disgraced former Congressman George Santos.
“We want to support our candidate, Tom Suozzi – he's the one who can get the job done,” Hamilton said. “He can work across the aisle, we can count on him, he's the best candidate and we didn't want to let him down.”
Hamilton was voting with Robert Brady, who agreed.
“He's going to represent that one good government,” said Brady, who also criticized Suozzi’s opponent.
“These are the kind of candidates the Republicans are putting up, a George Santos guy, he's a con man and a grifter, and this is the quality of candidates they've been putting up and they continue to put up,” Brady said.
Heading into the Tuesday special election, prompted by Congress’ ousting of Santos in December, the race had become one to watch nationally. Some see it as a potential bellwether for how Democrats may perform heading into a consequential 2024 election season.
During the truncated campaign, Suozzi attempted to bring attention to his past record in Congress and his ability to work across the aisle, while Pilip focused on district locals’ frustrations with the migrant crisis, and pointed her finger at Suozzi, along with President Joe Biden, for the crisis at the border.
Although, all of the drama and hustle of the shortened campaign was quiet on the snowy streets of Whitestone, which along with Beechhurst, Clearview, Bayside, Bay Terrace, Broadway-Flushing, Bellerose and Queens Village are included in the mostly-Long Island district.
Despite a promising turnout in early voting the week leading up to the election, the weather appeared to keep a large number of voters at home.
Early voting numbers showed that 66,800 voters – between both Queens and Long Island – turned up for the nine days of early voting, according to data from the two respective boards of elections.
The data was looked at positively by Suozzi and Democratic Party officials, with around 7,000 more early voters identifying as registered Democrats as opposed to Republicans or Conservatives. Around 13,000 of the early voters were classified as “other” or “blank.”
Although schools were shuttered due to the snow, custodians continued to shovel and plow the sidewalks outside polling sites. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
As of 3 p.m.,15,091 voters had checked in on Election Day in the Queens portion of the district alone.
The polling site in Whitestone saw the occasional voter, as well as the crossing guards and shovel-wielding school custodians who had chosen to show up for the optional work day.
Two P.S 193 custodians on Tuesday plowed the sidewalk so that voters could make their way inside the school. Shortly after they finished clearing the block, they looked back to realize that much of the work they had completed had been made moot by the snow that had fallen in the meantime.
“I hate snow,” one of them said.
Voters didn’t seem to share the same sentiment. Erica C. from Flushing showed up to vote in the election because of its high stakes, she said. The race could result in the Democrats getting one member closer to a majority in the House. A win for Pilip would mean the GOP maintains their majority.
“It's important,” she said. “A majority is really important right now.”
Erica said she voted for Suozzi, calling him a “smart man.” She also defended Suozzi’s failed gubernatorial run in 2022, which pulled the Democrat out of his congressional seat, making way for Santos’ election.
“I think [Suozzi] would have been a very good governor,” she said. “I think he was moving on not to abandon his district but to help the entire state.”
She also said she was done with what she called “MAGA crazies” and called Pilip “unhinged.”
“She is basically an ethnic, East Coast Marjorie Taylor Greene that they're trying to push on us,” she said.
A little to the south, it was a similarly quiet scene at I.S 25, a middle school just off of Francis Lewis Boulevard. There, custodians shoveled snow, which was falling with more ferocity, and a few voters wandered into the poll site.
“It's a sacred duty to vote,” said Joe Janos, who said he was mainly motivated by the immigration crisis.
“Let's put it this way, this nation is founded on law,” he said. “If I invite you into my house, and you go through the open door, fine. You come into that house and backdoor through a window, no.”
Although Janos said he hadn’t seen the migrant crisis affect his community, he did say it was a general vote for the future of the country, which he would prefer to see in the hands of Republicans.
“I am a Republican, I think they would handle it in general, not that I would vote for all Republicans,” he said. “I think they have a plan for it, if nothing else, they have a plan.”
Janos declined to say if he specifically voted for Pilip once he went into the voting booth.
Tommy Reichlang, another local who, having just been to the gym, wore basketball shorts to the snowy polls, was more forthcoming about his ballot.
“I wanted to vote for Mazi over Suozzi,” he said. “I just think we need to change things up.”
“I think we need to start voting that way to clean things up, I think neighborhoods are getting dangerous,” he added. “I think New York City is getting dangerous, and I think she'll do a lot to help start voting the way I want her to vote.”
Reichlang also pointed to the migrant crisis as his reason for turning up to the polls, and said that he fears Suozzi will make the crisis at the border worse.
“I think he's going to vote along with whatever Biden wants to do, which is keeping the border completely open,” he said. “I don't know how much change [Pilip] is going to be able to bring about, but at least it's a start in the right direction.”
Going into the early afternoon, snow began to mount up even more in areas of Queens and Long Island, where most of the 3rd District resides.
Neither candidate, Suozzi or Pilip, made it to the Queens section of their district, but both did announce free rides for voters who wanted to head to the polls despite the weather.
Suozzi told the Eagle he was bouncing around the Long Island portion of the district, and felt optimistic.
“I feel great, early voting was great, absentee ballots were great,” he said over the phone. “It is snowing on both Democrats and Republicans today alike.”
Pilip’s campaign did not respond to calls from the Eagle, although she did hold media availability in Massapequa and released a statement.
Polls close at 9 p.m. on Tuesday in the congressional special election between Democrat Tom Suozzi and Republican Mazi Pilip. Photos via Suozzi and Pilip Campaigns
“The future of our country is at stake in this election,” she said. “I’m running for Congress to slam the door on the extreme policies of Tom Suozzi and Joe Biden and secure our borders…In Congress, I will be a powerful voice for securing our southern border, supporting and funding law enforcement, and putting the safety of local families first.”
Polls in the NY-03 close at 9 p.m., keep up with the Eagle online and in print on Wednesday for results.
