New York 3rd District special election: Suozzi projected to defeat Pilip

Democrats cut into Republicans’ already narrow House majority.

By538 and ABC News via five thirty eight logo
Last Updated: February 13, 2024, 10:30 PM EST

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.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
ByG. Elliott Morris, Monica Potts, Leah Askarinam, and Nathaniel Rakich
Feb 13, 2024, 10:30 PM EST

ABC News has projected a winner

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

ByG. Elliott Morris, Monica Potts, Leah Askarinam, and Nathaniel Rakich
Feb 13, 2024, 10:31 PM EST

Pilip is conceding now

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

ByG. Elliott Morris, Monica Potts, Leah Askarinam, and Nathaniel Rakich
Feb 13, 2024, 10:26 PM EST

Meanwhile, on social media...

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

ByG. Elliott Morris, Monica Potts, Leah Askarinam, and Nathaniel Rakich
Feb 13, 2024, 10:19 PM EST

The Associated Press has projected a winner

Yeah, Geoffrey, based on that Nassau dump, the Associated Press has gone ahead and projected Suozzi as the winner. Our colleagues at ABC News, however, have yet to make a projection.

—Nathaniel Rakich, 538