Democratic congressional candidate Tom Suozzi admitted “left-wing” progressives were hurting his party as he fights to win back his former House seat in a special election this month.
The ex-Long Island congressman made the startling admission Thursday ahead of a Feb. 13 special election as Republicans look to link him to a controversial New York City law requiring police officers to log reports on millions of minor interactions with the public.
Suozzi said such actions hurt not only his campaign but other moderate Democrats running in swing districts across the country in November.
“I think that the progressive left wing of the Democratic Party is hurting Democrats throughout the country. Because the people want us to solve problems,” Suozzi said during a press conference on gun control and safety when The Post asked about the new cops reporting law.
Mazi Pilip, his Republican opponent vying for the seat, on Wednesday pounced and immediately sought to tie Suozzi to the anti-cop law approved by the Democratic-led Council over the objections of Mayor Eric Adams, a Suozzi ally. Suozzi also opposes the law.
The special election is for the seat vacated by the expulsion of serial lying ex-GOP Rep. George Santos.
House District 3 includes parts of eastern Queens as well as Nassau County, and many Big Apple police officers and other first responders reside there — making the “How Many Stops Act” a potentially potent political issue in what’s expected to be a low turnout special election. Early voting begins Saturday.
Pilip has already racked up the endorsements of all the major law enforcement unions in Nassau County, as well as the NYPD’s sergeants’ union.
Suozzi’s comments are the latest example of him distancing himself from leaders and progressives in his own party.
He previously said he was not seeking President Biden’s endorsement or Gov. Kathy Hochul stumping for him during the campaign. A recent Pix 11/Emerson College poll found both are unpopular in the district.
Suozzi also promised to spar with firebrand democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other members of the leftist “Squad” if he returns to office.
For her part, PIlip has distanced herself from former Republican President Donald Trump.
She has refused to say if she voted for him in the past and said during a Pix 11 special forum Tuesday that “If he’s convicted of a crime, he cannot represent us.”
The former three-term congressman appeared annoyed about Republicans trying to paint him as soft on crime, noting he ran on a strong public safety platform during his failed 2022 campaign for governor.
“I went against members of my own party running on an issue, making people safer and supporting the police, and supporting law enforcement and supporting legislation that would make us safer,” Suozzi said.
“So how can people possibly believe this ridiculous notion that she’s [Pilip] trying to peddle that that’s not the case.”
He boasted he got an “F” rating from the NRA to bolster his gun safety record during an event in his hometown of Glen Cove, with 11 members of Moms Demand Action, and rapped Pilip as opposing restrictions on firearms.
Pro-Suozzi groups have spent millions of dollars more than pro-Pilip groups to flip the Santos seat.
But pro-Pilip forces are closing the gap. he House Republican Majority leadership Super PAC — the Congressional Leadership Fund — announced Wednesday it’s spending an additional $2.6 million on TV and social media for the final stretch of the race — bringing its total to $5 million.
Republicans have sought to link Suozzi to the border and migrant crisis that has sparked fierce backlash under fellow Democrat Biden.
During a PIX 11 forum Tuesday night, Suozzi said “I do” when he asked if he supported temporarily closing the Mexican border to stop the flow of migrants into the country.