Democrats cut into Republicans’ already narrow House majority.
Democrat Tom Suozzi has won the special election in New York’s 3rd District, defeating Republican Mazi Pilip to flip a House seat from red to blue. (The seat was formerly held by Republican Rep. George Santos, who was expelled from Congress in December after a series of scandals.) As a result, Republicans’ already narrow House majority has been reduced to 219-213.
Throughout the night, 538 reporters, analysts and contributors have been live-blogging the results in real time and breaking down what (if anything) they mean for November. Read our full analysis below.
With the win tonight, Democrats have narrowed Republicans’ House majority to 219-213. That means Republicans will only be able to afford three defections on votes going forward — otherwise votes will be tied 216-216 and not pass. In addition, Democrats now need to flip only four Republican-held seats in the 2024 election to take back the House.
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
The ABC News decision desk is now affirming the calls from other sources, projecting that Tom Souzzi will win the race and flip a seat for the Democrats.
—G. Elliott Morris, 538
In a quick speech in front of supporters, Pilip said she'd called Suozzi and conceded the race. This outcome is not a huge surprise: Suozzi is a known entity and Pilip was a newer face who was outspent in the race.
—Monica Potts, 538
As George Santos’ time as the most recent member of Congress representing the 3rd District comes to a close, he seems to be relishing Pilip’s likely loss.
—Leah Askarinam, 538
