Former President Donald Trump ripped into the “very foolish woman” who lost to a Democrat in the special election in New York to replace disgraced former Rep. George Santos.
Trump angrily reacted to Republican Mazi Pilip’s loss Tuesday as New York’s 3rd Congressional District seat which was won by Democrat Tom Suozzi in the special election, bringing the Republicans’ majority in the House to 219-213. The former president called for “a real candidate” for the November general election, criticizing Pilip for missing the mark after she distanced herself from Trump through the campaign.
🇺🇸#USA, New York’s 3rd congressional district special election results:
97% in:
⏫Suozzi (D): 53,9 % (+7,7)✅
⏬Pilip (R): 46,1 % (-7,7)(+/- 2022 election)
Tom Suozzi (D) is the apparent winner. The seat was held by George Santos (R).
DEM Gain. pic.twitter.com/iW6haeGXXn
— World Elects (@ElectsWorld) February 14, 2024
“Republicans just don’t learn, but maybe she was still a Democrat?” Trump asked in a post on Truth Social Tuesday.
“I have an almost 99% Endorsement Success Rate in Primaries, and a very good number in the General Elections, as well, but just watched this very foolish woman, Mazi Melesa Pilip, running in a race where she didn’t endorse me and tried to ‘straddle the fence,’ when she would have easily WON if she understood anything about MODERN DAY politics in America,” he added.
Trump continued his rebuke in all caps.
“MAGA, WHICH IS MOST OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, STAYED HOME – AND IT ALWAYS WILL, UNLESS IT IS TREATED WITH THE RESPECT THAT IT DESERVES,” he wrote.
“I STAYED OUT OF THE RACE, ‘I WANT TO BE LOVED!’ GIVE US A REAL CANDIDATE IN THE DISTRICT FOR NOVEMBER. SUOZZI, I KNOW HIM WELL, CAN BE EASILY BEATEN!” he concluded.
According to City & State New York:
Although Pilip won reelection to the Nassau County Legislature in 2023 on the Republican and Conservative Party lines, it turns out that she has been a registered Democrat since 2012. The information didn’t faze Republican officials who picked her, and the other front-runners for the nomination had their own connections to the Democratic Party.
Pilip, who moved to Israel from Ethiopia when she was 12, recently told FOX 5 that she didn’tTrump was too old to run for office again.
“I think mentally, he’s stable, he’s healthy and he served the American people as a president,” she said. “He did great things for our country.”
Suozzi,had also made an effort to distance himself from President Joe Biden throughout the race for the seat formerly held by Santos. After his victory Tuesday, he took a jab at Trump.
“Let’s send a message to our friends running Congress these days: stop running around for Trump and start running the country,” he said. “It’s time to find common ground and start delivering for the people of the United States of America.”
Biden’s campaign team also took a shot at the former president, blaming him for Pilip’s defeat.
The Biden campaign statement on tonight’s results doesn’t even mention Tom Suozzi’s name but starts with this line: “Donald Trump lost again tonight. When Republicans run on Trump’s extreme agenda – even in a Republican-held seat – voters reject them. As we saw in 2020, 2022,…
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) February 14, 2024
“Donald Trump lost again tonight. When Republicans run on Trump’s extreme agenda—even in a Republican-held seat—voters reject them,” Biden’s campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement.
“As we saw in 2020, 2022, 2023, and now tonight, when it comes down to the choice between Donald Trump’s chaos and division and President Biden, who wakes up everyday working to get things done and make Americans’ lives better, voters are consistently choosing the leadership of President Biden and Democrats.”
