Well, butter my biscuits and call me Sally! It looks like the slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives just got a little slimmer. You heard it right, folks. The special election in New York’s 3rd Congressional District to replace freshman Rep. George Santos (R-NY) has ended in a Democratic win.
Tom Suozzi, the Democrat who previously held the seat for six years, beat out his GOP rival, Mazi Pilip, to finish out the remaining 11 months of the two-year term for the Long Island seat. And wouldn’t you know, a winter storm hit the area just in time for election day, lowering expectations for turnout. But both candidates were determined — offering voters rides to the polls and even hiring snow plow companies to clear the roads.
Before this special election, the House party breakdown was 219 Republicans and 212 Democrats, with four vacancies in the 435-member chamber. The expulsion of Santos in early December following an ethics report and his facing 23 federal charges set the stage for this recent shift in power.
But don’t you worry, folks. The GOP isn’t throwing in the towel just yet. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) spoke last month about the political situation for House Republicans. He acknowledged the reality of their second-smallest majority in history but assured that they would stick to their “core conservative principles.”
In other news, the GOP-led House voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, despite three Republican defectors joining with all voting Democrats to oppose the effort. And it looks like articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden are on the table. Now isn’t that something?
So, what does this mean for the future of the GOP? Well, let’s just say they’re going to have to pull up their bootstraps and get to work. They’ve got a few vacancies to fill and a majority to maintain. But hey, in the world of politics, anything can happen.