House Republicans are mounting a late-stage effort to boost their performance in New York’s 3rd Congressional District, a seat that was once held by Long Island’s lying former Rep. George Santos, by tying incumbent Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) to Mayor Eric Adams.
The Congressional Leadership Fund, the main super PAC for House Republicans, is planning to roll out a roughly six-figure ad buy in the district across both cable and streaming, The Post has learned.
The group’s ads are aimed at seeking to lump Suozzi in with Adams, given the congressman’s past endorsement of Hizzoner as well as the mayor previously claiming to have wanted him for deputy mayor.
Given the five-count indictment against Adams — to which he has pleaded not guilty — Republicans are hoping the mayor’s political troubles will give them fodder against Suozzi.
“Tom Suozzi and toxic Eric Adams are two birds of a feather, and we’re going to show Long Island voters just how deep their ties run,” Courtney Parella, communications director at the Congressional Leadership Fund, told The Post.
Suozzi, who is facing competition from former state Rep. Michael LiPetri Jr., managed to reclaim the seat earlier this year during a special election in February.
The Cook Political Report rates the race as “likely Democrat” for the district that encompasses parts of Nassau County and Queens.
But Republicans are seemingly optimistic they can make a dent in the district, which went for Suozzi by roughly 8 percentage points earlier this year.
The Congressional Leadership Fund’s ad buy, which will see spots go up on television later this week, marks the first time the GOP PAC has spent on the congressional race in the 2024 cycle — not counting the special election.
Operatives in the PAC claim that Suozzi’s “polling numbers are shockingly soft” and have cited some surveys indicating that former President Donald Trump has a narrow edge in the district.
Top Republicans in Congress have expressed interest in the Empire State over recent weeks. The GOP managed to flip four seats in New York during the 2022 cycle, thanks in part to redistricting mayhem.
In the current cycle, there are widely believed to be about half a dozen competitive seats in New York, some of which Democrats are hoping to reclaim.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) previously told The Post he was “very bullish” about “flipping a seat or two” in New York. He cautioned that the hardest races for Republicans will be for Reps. Marc Molinaro in the 19th District, Anthony D’Esposito in the 4th District and Brandon Williams in the 22nd District.
The House of Representatives is currently comprised of 220 Republican seats to 212 Democratic seats. And the battle for control of the lower chamber is widely expected to be a close one.
Over the weekend, House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) stumped for Molinaro during a rally in Schodack, NY.
“He has been one of the leading fighters against this decaying Democrat Party in New York state,” Stefanik told attendees, before hailing him as one of the hardest-working members of Congress.
Molinaro is locked in a tough race against Democrat Josh Riley. Cook Political Report ranks that race as a toss-up.
“It’s a part of New York that I know I’ve spent the better part of my adult life serving and representing upstate New York. And so while Josh Riley has decided to parachute into this district and buy himself a congressional district, we’re not going to let that happen,” Molinaro chided during that rally.
Additional reporting by Vaughn Golden
