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Democratic former congressman Tom Suozzi won a special US House of Representatives election in New York on Tuesday, narrowing an already razor-thin Republican majority that has struggled to pass legislation.
The seat became available after the House took the extraordinary step of expelling Republican George Santos, whose array of lies about his biography led to his indictment on fraud charges.
Mr Suozzi, who had held the seat before stepping down to run for governor, defeated Mazi Pilip, an Ethiopian-born Republican county legislator who served in the Israeli military.
The district includes a small corner of New York City and some of its eastern suburbs.
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The New York district, which supported Mr Biden in 2020 before flipping to Republicans in the 2022 midterm elections, has served as a testing ground for both parties’ messaging in advance of the November election, when the presidency and control of both chambers of Congress will be at stake.
A moderate Democrat, Mr Suozzi had vowed to work with Republicans to solve difficult problems, including the migrant crisis at the southern US border.
“The people of Queens and Long Island are sick and tired of political bickering,” he said during a victory speech. “They want us to come together and solve problems.”
He was briefly interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters accusing him of supporting “genocide”, a reminder of how the Israel-Gaza conflict has divided Democrats.
The Democrats’ win reduces House Speaker Mike Johnson’s majority to 219-213, making his job of managing an unruly caucus a bit more difficult. His challenges were on full display last week, when the chamber failed to pass a measure to impeach President Joe Biden’s top border official, Alejandro Mayorkas, in an embarrassing setback.
The House approved the measure in a second attempt on Tuesday, after second-ranked Republican Steve Scalise returned from cancer treatment to cast a decisive vote.
More challenges await as Mr Johnson decides whether to take up a Ukraine aid Bill passed by the Senate on Tuesday and Congress faces a deadline to avoid another government shutdown early next month. – Reuters