Thread by @Lis_Smith

There will be a lot of “takes” on tonight’s election in NY-03 and *what it means.* November is a long way away, so shelve those hot takes. Instead learn some lessons from what Tom Suozzi & Dems did here.

@Tom_Suozzi went into the race w/his own brand. He’d been a mayor, county exec, & Congressman. That blunted R attacks against him as an aspiring Squad member. He did well w/Dems, held own w/indies, attracted meaningful # of GOP votes.

@Tom_Suozzi That matters in a place like LI, which was hit HARD by a red wave post-2020. In 2022, Dems’ messaging fell flat. Crime was a top issue for voters, but Dems ignored that & tried to change the subject to abortion. Came across as out of touch.

Same dynamic could’ve unfolded in this race. Suozzi could’ve ignored immigration, dismissed voters’ concerns about migrants, tried to change the subject. But he didn’t. He actually *leaned in* on it.

His first presser of 2024 was on immigration & support for a bipartisan border security deal. He crashed a Pilip presser trying to pin blame on D’s for border & called out Pilip/GOP for wanting chaos at the border to help themselves politically.

He ran ads highlighting how he’d broken with Dems in the past on immigration. He hammered Pilip in the debate for offering no solutions. He called out the GOP for tanking a bipartisan deal to boost Trump in November.

While doing all of this, he still hit Pilip for being anti-choice. He still called her out for opposing an assault weapons ban. He still talked about his environmental record. He still slammed the GOP’s inability to repeal the SALT cap.

So, key lessons? 1- Candidate quality matters (see also: Pilip, Mazi) 2- DON’T run cookiecutter, national Dem campaign in R trending districts  3- DO flip the script & go on offense on “bad” issues for Dems, like immigration.

4- Throw the base some red meat on issues like abortion & guns 5- Contrast, contrast, contrast- make sure voters know the choice in the election. Go negative, go hard. 6- Do all of these things at once. Make a proactive case. Make a contrast. Don't be scared of your own shadow.