Life after George Santos: Voters should prepare for a big-time election

It’s only been two days since Congress took the historic step of expelling Republican Rep. George Santos from the U.S. House of Representatives.

While his dramatic flair continues to ripple through pop culture — from a stellar Bowen Yang cold open on “Saturday Night Live,” to Santos himself spending some late nights on social media lashing out at his former Republican colleagues, accepting a pay-per-view interview invitation from Ziwe and increasing the price of his video appearances on Cameo — the reality is now a vacant seat needs to be filled by the voters of the 3rd Congressional District.

And just like Santos himself, this process will be anything but ordinary.

Here’s what happens next and what it means for prospective candidates, party leaders and most importantly voters in the northeast Queens and Nassau County district.

When is the seat filled?

Under state law, Gov. Kathy Hochul must issue a proclamation to set the date for a special election within ten days of that vacancy, which occurred on Dec. 1. That means, she must set the date for that special election by Monday, Dec. 11. The special election needs to fall more than 70 and less than 80 days from the date of that proclamation, which means voters will likely be casting a ballot in the frigid month of February.

Will there be a primary election to pick the candidates for that race?

No. Under state law, the county party leaders will select the Democrat and Republican candidates for the special election.

For the Democrats, that means Nassau County and State Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs will play a driving role in the process. Jacobs said he plans to work in consultation with Hochul, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Gregory Meeks, chair of the Queens County Democrats.

Jacobs told Gothamist that he began holding screening panels with candidates starting on Friday afternoon. On Monday, he texted Gothamist that he will announce a Democratic nominee “Thursday, I hope.”

For the Republicans, Nassau County Republican Chair Joseph Cairo, Jr. is leading up the screening process. He told Gothamist that he plans to interview more than two dozen prospective candidates.

“Why? Because there may be a diamond in the rough out there,” said Cairo, likening his search to how the Giants found the undrafted backup quarterback Tommy DeVito, a recent fan favorite, who’s been filling in for the injured Tyrod Taylor.

“We may have our own Tommy DeVito out there. So, we're going to interview each and every one of them” Cairo said.

Cairo said he expected the interview process to continue through Wednesday.

Before the GOP process is finalized, Cairo said the party will also engage a firm to conduct a full background check of the top two or three final candidates, because no one wants another Santos-style surprise.

The final candidate will be selected by the party leadership, made up of roughly nine people, including former Long Island Republican Congressmember Pete King. Cairo said he hopes that they finish their work by Friday and an announcement of their selection soon after that.

Why does this election matter?

This special election is to fill the balance of Santos’ term in office and the person who wins the seat will assume the office a few days after the election, unless the race is very close, according to officials at the State Board of Elections.

Given that Republicans hold a precarious three-vote majority in the House, the winner of this election will either help bolster that narrow majority or weaken the Republican grip on power.

A broader Republican majority could bolster House Republican leadership plans to pursue impeachment inquiries against President Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, while also scrambling the fight over aid to Ukraine, Israel and the ongoing fight over how to fund the government.

The winning candidate also becomes the de facto incumbent for reelection later in the year and could serve to advance their respective parties' chances of securing control of the House after the general election.

Are any candidates leading contenders?

Among the Democrats, former Congressmember Tom Suozzi, who jumped into the race to replace Santos in October, is making a strong push for his selection. Suozzi is a moderate Democrat who was elected Mayor of Glen Cove in 1994 and served until 2001. His father and an uncle were also mayors. Suozzi was elected Nassau County executive from 2002 to 2009, and later won a seat in Congress in 2016 and served three terms.

Despite those victories, Suozzi has also notched some major losses, including two unsuccessful bids for the Democratic nomination for governor. Most recently, he ran in the primary against Hochul in 2022, where he placed third behind Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and the governor.

Former state Sen. Anna Kaplan is also vying for the Democratic nod. She announced her plans to run for the seat in May with a video that has since notched some 1.6 million views, she told Gothamist in an interview last week.

Kaplan describes herself as a “Jewish political refugee from Iran,” who came to the United States at the age of 13 after the Iran revolution. She was elected to the State Senate in 2018, flipping a Republican seat blue. She lost her 2022 reelection to a Republican who previously represented the senate district.

Kaplan said she’s made the fight for abortion and reproductive rights a central tenet of her campaign.

“To say that my mother’s generation has more rights than my daughter’s generation,” she said, in reference to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, “I had no other choice to jump in.”

On the Republican side, retired NYPD detective Michael Sapricone officially entered the race in July. Originally from Richmond Hills, Queens, he began his career with the NYPD as a transit officer in 1980 and was later promoted to detective, according to his biography.

He retired from the department in 2000. While he was still on the force, he began a private security firm called Squad Security, where is currently the president and chief executive officer.

Another potential candidate is Mazi Melesa Pilip, a Nassau County legislator, who was elected in 2021. Pilip was born in Ethiopia and escaped religious persecution to Israel as part of Operation Solomon in 1994, then later served as a paratrooper with the Israeli Defense Forces, according to an interview with The Forward after she won her current seat.

Where is the 3rd Congressional District?

This district picks up a sliver of the northeast portion of Queens and then stretches along the north shore of Nassau County in Long Island. Here is a map courtesy of The Center for Urban Research at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

New York is likely to be a battleground for both Republicans and Democrats next year as the balance of power in Congress looms large.

For a voter in this district, what dates do I need to know?

First, the date of the special election is coming soon. The governor hasn’t announced it yet, but once that date is set, the deadline to register to vote will be 10 days before the special election. That means the first day of early voting will also be the last day for new voters to register to vote in this district.

Keep in mind that in a special election, any voter regardless of political party affiliation can participate. You do not need to be a registered Democrat or Republican, like for a party primary election.

Any valid registered voter can cast a ballot in this contest.