House GOP's majority shrinks as Democrats flip Santos' New York seat

CNN projects that former Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi will win New York's special election to replace disgraced former GOP Rep. George Santos.

Suozzi officially announced his run for the House seat in December after being nominated by New York Democrats. He said he would focus on the “bread-and-butter issues” that concern most Americans and that his campaign will address the rising cost of living; immigration; the threats posed by climate change; and fears driven by the wars in Ukraine and between Israel and Hamas.

Suozzi, considered a moderate Democrat, represented a previous version of New York’s 3rd Congressional District, on the North Shore of Long Island, for three terms before vacating the seat to launch an unsuccessful primary challenge against New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. Prior to his three terms Congress, Suozzi spent eight years leading Nassau County as county executive and also served as the mayor of Glen Cove.

CNN's Maria Sole Campinoti, Gloria Pazmino, Ethan Cohen and Jack Forrest contributed reporting to this post.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s campaign reacted to Democratic former Rep. Tom Suozzi winning the New York 3rd Congressional District special election, which further shrinks the House GOP’s narrow majority.

The Biden campaign is also celebrating another special election tonight, this one a state House of Representatives race in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, calling Democrat Jim Prokopiak’s win a sign of “real momentum behind the Biden-Harris agenda.”

CNN projected that Prokopiak will win the race, holding the seat for his party. The win gives Democrats a 102-100 majority and ensures they’ll control the chamber even after the last seat in the body, which a Republican held until he resigned on Friday, is filled. 

The campaign is pointing to the race as a victory for the president’s domestic agenda —and in a district more critical to ensuring Biden’s reelection in November, standing perhaps in contrast with New York’s 3rd district, which they’ve indicated they don’t consider a perfect bellwether ahead of the general election.

With the race now called for Democrat Tom Suozzi, the Biden campaign said they see the former congressman’s victory as a good sign on immigration, a huge issue in New York and in this special election.

One campaign official said Suozzi hadn’t even gotten a chance to run ads on Republicans walking away from a border deal – and yet Suozzi’s win shows that Democratic criticism still resonated.

Democrat Tom Suozzi celebrated his projected win in New York’s 3rd Congressional District saying, "despite the dirty tricks" and attacks, "we won."

Before he started speaking, at least two protesters attempted to interrupt, shouting: "you're supporting genocide, stop supporting genocide!" and "ceasefire now! You support genocide!"

Another, third, protester tried to interrupt during the opening moments of his speech as well. "For the last four months —" the protester said before being drowned out by the crowd chanting "Suozzi."

Later in his remarks, Suozzi pointed to the protesters as an example of divisions in the country and said the special election race was centered around divisive issues like immigration and the economy. Suozzi focused much of his campaign on targeting voters who were looking for bipartisan solutions.

Tonight the GOP-led House voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on a second attempt after the resolution failed last week.

But the outcome of the vote could have been different, CNN's Kaitlan Collins argued, had former Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi already been sworn into Congress.

CNN projected that Suozzi won the special election in New York Tuesday after his GOP challenger Mazi Pilip conceded.

Former Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi will win the special election in New York's 3rd Congressional District, CNN projects, and defeat Republican Nassau County legislator Mazi Pilip.

Democrats are taking back the seat former GOP Rep. George Santos turned red in 2022, a huge win in a race that focused on immigration. This further narrows the GOP's razor-thin majority.

Republican Mazi Pilip has conceded the special election to former Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi.

Pilip, who promised earlier in the day to accept the results of the race, said she called Suozzi and conceded before taking the stage in East Meadow, New York. 

The two candidates were fighting for a seat in New York's 3rd Congressional District, which was previously held by former GOP Rep. George Santos.

Pilip thanked her supporters and vowed to keep fighting for them.

“Yes we lost but it doesn’t mean we are going to end here,” she said in brief remarks. 

Former Rep. Tom Suozzi is leading the New York District 3 special election with 58.7% of votes, compared to his GOP challenger Mazi Pilip, who has 41.3% so far.

It's still too early to call the race, as only 51% of the estimated vote has been counted.

The estimated vote count jumped quickly, largely because of early and mail-in ballots from Nassau County, CNN’s John Berman told CNN’s Jake Tapper.