MASSAPEQUA, N.Y. — House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) headlined a Saturday campaign rally for Nassau County Legislator Mazi Melesa Pilip, the Republican nominee in a special election to fill former Rep. George Santos’ House seat in Long Island and Queens.
Emmer’s presence at the nearly 300-person gathering underscored the seriousness with which both major parties are taking the Feb. 13 race to fill New York’s 3rd Congressional District. The contest ― between Pilip and former Rep. Tom Suozzi, a Democrat ― provides Republicans a chance to demonstrate continued success in Long Island, the site of one of the most dramatic rightward shifts in the country in recent years. And if they lose Santos’ seat, congressional Republicans will also come that much closer to losing their fragile House majority.
The rally, at a packed American Legion hall from which many observers were turned away, also showed the degree to which every congressional race has become nationalized. Rather than dwell on the individual differences between candidates, Emmer and other speakers emphasized the need to counter President Joe Biden’s policies on immigration, crime and inflation.
“We cannot afford another four years of Joe Biden and these crooks. We can’t afford another several years of Chuck Schumer. More importantly, we must continue our majority in the U.S. House,” bellowed Emmer, after joking about the need to “raise the energy” following a string of high-decibel speeches. The GOP majority, he said, is “the only thing that has saved this country for years.”
The candidate herself, though, was not there. Pilip, a Modern Orthodox Jew, could not make it because she was observing the Jewish sabbath.
The Nassau County Republican Party, which had worked hard to mobilize the raucous crowd of hundreds,…
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