Governor Kathy Hochul confirms that she summoned Tom Suozzi, the likely democratic nominee to replace Geroge Santos in Congress, to come to Albany to meet with her before the party agrees to nominate him to run in the February 13th special election.
Suozzi , who for six years held the Congressional seat recently occupied by Santos, decided in 2022 to instead challenge Hochul in the democratic primary for governor.
Suozzi, in this campaign, referred to Hochul as an “interim governor.” Hochul replaced Andrew Cuomo, who resigned in disgrace in 2021. He also disparaged the governor and her husband, a former US Attorney who was counsel to the Delaware North Corporation, as fostering a culture of corruption. He also ran ads saying Hochul was soft on crime, a tactic also used by Hochul’s republican opponent in a close general election.
A report in the New York Times says Hochul made numerous demands on Suozzi, including that he strongly back abortion rights and that he would not run a campaign that undermined the state’s democratic party.
The governor, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, confirmed that she called the meeting, but says it was merely to determine whether Suozzi would indeed be the best candidate to take back the seat and help Democrats eventually regain control of the House.
“I wanted to see polling, I wanted to talk about of strategy. I wanted to know what his chance of success would be,” Hochul said, adding that she’s seeking to “put forth the strongest candidate” who can partner with President Joe Biden.
Hochul did acknowledge that Suozzi apologized to her for saying that her family was corrupt.
“That was an important conversation to clear the air,” the governor said. “It was in his interest to make sure the conversation went well.”
Suozzi, who has ties to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and is an ally of state Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs, is expected to be nominated later this week to run in the February 13th special election.
And as other races for 2024 heat up, Westchester County Executive George Latimer announced he’ll primary Representative Jamaal Bowman, over Bowman’s criticism of Israel’s conduct in the ongoing conflict with Hamas. Hochul says she won’t be taking sides in that fight.
