If Republican candidate Maji Pilip wins the special election in New York's 3rd Congressional District on February 13th, it will shock the nation and help maintain the slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives. right.
She has defied expectations before. In 2020, she flipped a state House seat from blue to red and could do it again in a district that Biden won by 8 points. All issues are going her way, with a recent Emerson College poll giving her a 42-45 lead over her Democratic opponent, Tom Suozzi. Illegal immigration was favored in public opinion polls ahead of crime and the economy.
History shows that Pilip can win this seat. A very similar 2011 special election was held in a nearby Congressional district, pitting a largely unknown and underfunded Republican, Bob Turner, against a popular Democratic incumbent. Mr. Turner abruptly nationalized elections and turned local elections into referendums on then-President Barack Obama's erratic stance toward Israel. Mr. Turner, a devout Roman Catholic, defeated his kind-hearted Jewish opponent by eight points in the nation's most Jewish Congressional district. His victory marked the first time in 90 years that a Republican had won the seat.
Pilip, who is running against perennial Democratic candidate Tom Suozzi, would be wise to nationalize his campaign as well. In her case, I would try to make the race a referendum on the Democratic Party itself. Pillip is calling on the moderate Democrats in her district to send a clear message that progress has made this state and nation less safe, more divided, and, crucially, less affordable. should be called out. Its insane open borders policy threatens the entire American experiment. (Related: William O'Reilly: Joe Biden bites the Big Apple)
Republicans, independents, and moderate Democrats all know what progressivism has brought to New York. Pilip has little need to educate them. In almost every New York poll I've seen, the top three issues are the cost of living, crime, and fleeing illegal immigrants. Pilip is on the right side of all three. Suozzi is all over the map. And does he want the job? He has already retired from Congress and is running for another seat.
You don't often see Maji Pilip showing up. She is a 44-year-old black, Jewish, Ethiopian refugee and conservative.
Voters of all political parties simply need to pay attention to her because who she is roars so loudly. Pilip, who grew up in a squalid refugee camp without running water, didn't even know her real birthday. She was so grateful to the State of Israel for rescuing her from the camps that she joined the Israel Defense Forces at the age of 18. And as soon as she came to America and became an American citizen, she showed her love for this country by doing her civic work. .
Democratic leaders like to paint Republicans as anti-immigrant, even though nothing could be further from the truth. we are professionals.legal Immigration — supporting the rule of law — and that’s what Pilip represents.
Democratic leaders falsely claim that the Republican Party is anti-Black and anti-women. Pilip shreds the story, but it's never true. Remember Lincoln? Susan B. Anthony?
Democratic leaders believe people like Pilip should reflexively support no-cash bail, defunding the police, sanctuary cities, big government, and higher taxes. She vehemently opposes them all. Pilip is the worst possible nightmare for today's Democratic Party simply because of who she is and how she sees the world.
It's often said that conservatism is realpolitik, and Pilip knows a thing or two about that. She has seen firsthand what happens to the world when ideology gets out of control. Voters in NY-3 would be wise to listen to her. Republicans across the country would be wise to support her.
William F.B. O'Reilly was a Republican strategist from New York.
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