Democrat Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) announced he is joining the already crowded race for New York governor, challenging Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), who has had less than a year on the job since she was elevated to the position after the former embattled governor resigned earlier this year.
“I am running for Governor of NY as a common sense Democrat who gets things done,” Suozzi tweeted Monday morning. “I have the track record, common sense approach to governing & bold new vision to get it done. I can do it, because I’ve done it!”
Suozzi joining the race and leaving the House of Representatives further hurts House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) chances of keeping the wafer-thin House majority as the congressman is the eighteenth House Democrat to announce he is leaving the House due to retirement or running for a different position in the state or local level.
Suozzi’s decision comes after Thanksgiving when he reportedly said he had “lots to think about over Thanksgiving.” Over the weekend, Suozzi also turned down an offer from New York Mayor-elect Eric Adams (D) after announcing during a press conference last week that he tried to persuade his longtime political ally to join his administration as deputy mayor.
“I will do everything I can to help my friend Mayor-elect @ericadamsfornyc & the people of NYC succeed,” Suozzi tweeted Saturday. “After discussing it with my family, I believe the best way for me to help him and NYC is in elected office. I will announce my plans for the future in the coming days.”
However, Suozzi has wanted to be the state’s governor for some time. He told reporters earlier this month that he “would love to be the governor of New York state,” and he was “seriously considering running.”
The congressman who has voted 100 percent of the time on major votes with Pelosi allowing her to pass partisan policies, also represents a largely suburban House district, which could potentially help him in his gubernatorial bid; however, leaving the seat would be a struggle for Democrats to defend without a popular incumbent such as Suozzi. Thus, potentially giving Republicans a likely seat to pick up in New York since Democrats have struggled to find new candidates willing to run for office.
Suozzi has been a target for Republicans this past year. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) added him to their “Exit List” earlier this month. The list is compiled full of House Democrats the committee was pushing to either retire or face a strong Republican candidate that could unseat him. Camille Gallo, an NRCC spokeswoman, said, “Tom Suozzi is making the smart decision to quit Congress rather than lose in 2022.”
Breitbart News previously reported that Suozzi allegedly gave himself tens of thousands of dollars for “office rent” from his Congressional campaign committee since last year.
His Federal Election Commission (FEC) filing showed that he used $37,860 from his Congressional campaign committee for “office rent.” However, the money was given to the owner of the rental space, a company called Ruvo Realty LLC. The congressman’s financial disclosure shows he was the sole owner of the space.
Democrats trying to fight to stay in the majority are also facing tough redistricting battles. Politico recently outlined the House Democrats spending their last two elections (2018 and 2020) talking about their achievements of unseating members in red districts — which have since gotten more competitive over the years. However, they did not realize the majority of the districts where millions of dollars and hundreds of hours were spent fighting could disappear after redistricting.
“Democrats could find themselves spending large sums to defend the seat or be forced to shore up their claim to it during the once-in-a-decade redistricting process,” the New York Times wrote. “Diverting more Democratic voters to the district could in turn complicate the party’s efforts to use the process to seize one or two more House seats on Long Island.”
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter.
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