2018 General Election Elected 58 – 42
Tom Suozzi https://suozziforcongress.com/ is one of two Democratic Congressional winners in 2016 who are among the closest winners in the country and represents a district in metropolitan New York.
Suozzi is the third of the ten closest Congressional Democratic winners that I am introducing you to. While there will be many other important Congressional races in 2018, until time passes and primaries are completed, we can’t be sure about which Democrats to support against incumbent Republicans. We know that these ten candidates will be vulnerable in 2018 — even if there is a Democratic wave. They won their seats in districts where Republicans have the capacity to oppose them effectively. If the goal is to have a Democratic Congress, we need to protect these vulnerable Democrats.
Tom Suozzi is the former mayor of Glen Cove, Long Island. His father Joseph, born in Italy, became the mayor of Glen Cove. Tom’s uncle Vincent was also once the mayor of Glen Cove. As mayor, Tom Suozzi earned Al Gore’s praise for cleaning up industrial and commercial sites and redeveloping brownfield and superfund sites. The Glen Cove incinerator was closed and demolished as were the LI Tungsten Refinery Grounds.
Tom Suozzi’s next step up was his election as Nassau County Executive. His experience as Executive included successes and failures. When he took office in 2001 as the first Democrat in that position in 30 years, he was faced by billions in debt and an annual deficit of $300 millio. He cut spending, eliminated the deficit; reduced borrowing and reduced the debt. He centralized access to social services, earned praise for his achievements, and was reelected.
Tom Suozzi then ran for Governor and lost badly to Eliot Spitzer in the Democratic primary. He fulfilled a promise not to run for a third term as Nassau County Executive, but left the county with another financial problem. This was a product of the financial crisis the entire country faced shortly before the 2008 election. Suozzi’s solutions were short term and imaginative, but the new County Executive criticized them for being too imaginative.
When Tom Suozzi tried to return from the private sector, he ran again for Nassau County Executive. The first time he lost by a few hundred votes. The next time he lost decisively. Tom Suozzi found his footing when he was elected to New York’s Third Congressional District. His 14,292 vote victory out of almost 325,000 votes in 2016 was the eighth closest Democratic victory of 2016.
In Congress, he is one of those attempting to get Republicans and Democrats to work together — no easy task. He is Vice-chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus composed of 20 Congressional Democrats and 20 Congressional Republicans.
As all Democrats did, Tom Suozzi opposed Trumpcare. He has been an advocate for a two state solution for Israel. He has returned to environmental issues as his greatest area of interest. On a national level, he gave the environmental response to President Trump’s address to the nation. On a district level, he met with both Navy and New York State officials to discuss the clean-up of the Bethpage Plume.
Tom Suozzi is also urging Democrats throughout the country to connect with people who are religious. A graduate of Catholic schools – Chaminade High School in Mineola, Boston College, and Fordham Law School – he hopes that people can find ways to come together through mutual respect and neighborly love — something he seems to be able to say without a sense of irony.
If he can win reelection to a second term, that will go a long way toward consolidating NY 03 as a Democratic seat. Until Tom Suozzi won in 2016, the district had alternated between a Democratic and Republican Representative since the mid-60s. Since the mid-sixties, Suozzi is the first NY 03 Congressman to succeed someone from the same party.
Help him consolidate this Queens and northern Nassau County District as a Democratic district. Provide him with some support. Remember, small donations that continue on a monthly basis are extremely valuable to candidates. Take a look at him: Tom Suozzihttps://suozziforcongress.com/
