Democrat Trying to Flip Republican Seat Raises Doubts About Biden

The New York Democrat hoping to take back a House seat from Republicans is raising doubts over President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign.

Tom Suozzi, who wants to flip New York’s 3rd Congressional District blue, took a shot at the president’s age and cast doubt over Biden’s re-election campaign during an interview on the eve of Tuesday’s special election.

“The bottom line is he’s old,” Suozzi said Monday of the 81-year-old president on Good Day New York.

Asked if he’d vote for Biden’s re-election, Suozzi said he’d be “likely” to support him so “if he ends up being the Democratic candidate” but that he’d have to “see what happens” since there’s “all kinds of debate as to whether [Biden’s] going to stick it out or not.”

Newsweek reached out to Biden’s campaign via email for comment.

Suozzi has increasingly distanced himself from the president while his opponent, Republican Mazi Pilip, has embraced former President Donald Trump and defended him over his criminal charges. The two are competing to fill the vacancy left by former Representative George Santos who became the first Republican lawmaker to be expelled from the House in December.

Suozzi said on Monday that he didn’t like when people insult the sitting president, noting that he felt the same way when Trump was in the White House.

“This is serious business. This is not games. This is life and death,” Suozzi said.

He reiterated that both Biden and Trump are underwater on Long Island, a remark that echoes what he said earlier this month when he called both candidates “very unpopular” in his district and said he didn’t think it would be helpful to his campaign if Biden were to show up and stump for him.

“I don’t think it would be helpful just as I don’t think Donald Trump would be helpful to my opponent,” the Democrat told CNN. “This race is really very local. It’s Suozzi versus Mazi.”

Mazi, a political newcomer who has been open to having Trump campaign with her in New York, is hoping to hold onto the GOP seat by going after Suozzi for his immigration record as New York City continues to face a migrant crisis that has strained the city’s resources and frustrated residents.

An Emerson College Poll released Friday showed 53 percent of likely voters in the district trusting Mazi on immigration, compared to 47 percent who said the same of Suozzi.

Former Representative Tom Suozzi at a gubernatorial debate in New York City on June 16, 2022. Suozzi has casted doubt over President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign.

Craig Ruttle/Getty Images

On Monday, Suozzi pushed back on the attacks he’s faced for previously bragging “When I was county executive of Nassau County, I kicked ICE out of Nassau County.”

The Democrat said the reason he had refused to cooperate with the federal law enforcement agency was because his police commissioner had pressed him to push back against the way ICE was running operations in his county.

Earlier this month, Suozzi admitted in his interview with CNN that the “Democratic brand is in trouble here and we have to do a lot to overcome that” and acknowledged that immigration has emerged as a top voting issue for New Yorkers.

“We had a problem with crime in New York City. It was very effectively weaponized by the Republicans, immigration has become a very hot button issue here. They’re not only just trying to tie me to Joe Biden here, they’re trying to tie me to ‘The Squad,'” Suozzi told CNN in reference to the group of progressive lawmakers in Congress.

While Biden won the district by 9 points in 2020, Republicans have made steady gains in recent years, including Santos’ election in 2022. Independents currently make up a third of registered voters in the 3rd district, while Democrats account for 39 percent and Republicans represent 28 percent.